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 Liberia and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Derrick Morgan to the dance 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 Tom Boy. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
Henry Cow,
Lightning Bolt,
Mission of Burma,
Gong,
Laurel Aitken,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Magma,
The Modern Lovers,
Joy Division,
New York Dolls,
cv313,
Sun Ra,
Stiv Bators,
Eric Dolphy,
EPMD,
Black Sheep,
Pagans,
Freddie Wadling,
Organ,
The Toasters,
Shoche,
The Neon Judgement,
Minutemen,
The Young Rascals,
Chris Corsano,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sarah Menescal,
Donald Byrd,
Wire,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Angry Samoans,
Rhythm & Sound,
Althea and Donna,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
This Heat,
Man Parrish,
Quadrant,
Visage,
Wally Richardson,
The Kinks,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Television Personalities,
Fear,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Au Pairs,
The Velvet Underground,
Fatback Band,
Hoover,
Glenn Branca,
Cybotron,
FM Einheit,
The Real Kids,
Cymande,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Bill Wells,
The Fortunes,
Arab on Radar,
Byron Stingily,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.