Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from South Sudan and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Sonny Sharrock to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Robert Görl. All the underground hits.
All Hot Snakes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
Blancmange,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Scratch Acid,
Ossler,
Main Source,
Cluster,
Gong,
Eden Ahbez,
Sex Pistols,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bootsy Collins,
Harpers Bizarre,
U.S. Maple,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
One Last Wish,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Prince Buster,
Kerri Chandler,
Bronski Beat,
Kaleidoscope,
Gang Gang Dance,
Anthony Braxton,
Quantec,
Au Pairs,
Matthew Halsall,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Fugazi,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Drive Like Jehu,
Patti Smith,
Animal Collective,
Radiohead,
The Fugs,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pagans,
Wally Richardson,
Fear,
Sugar Minott,
Jeru the Damaja,
Black Sheep,
Buzzcocks,
Dawn Penn,
Ohio Players,
Josef K,
Soft Machine,
Cecil Taylor,
Jacques Brel,
Excepter,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Man Eating Sloth,
Agent Orange,
Cybotron,
Charles Mingus,
Nirvana,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Count Five,
Procol Harum,
The Kinks,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
CMW,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.