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 Guinea and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Kenny Larkin to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aloha Tigers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
Yaz,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
E-Dancer,
Tubeway Army,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Schoolly D,
Agent Orange,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Names,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Janne Schatter,
48th St. Collective,
Scientists,
Buzzcocks,
Susan Cadogan,
Ornette Coleman,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Erykah Badu,
The Music Machine,
The Evens,
Electric Prunes,
Niagra,
The Blackbyrds,
The Tremeloes,
David Bowie,
The Dirtbombs,
A Certain Ratio,
Donald Byrd,
Harry Pussy,
Adolescents,
The Selecter,
Jeff Mills,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Swans,
Lindisfarne,
Bobby Sherman,
H. Thieme,
Ossler,
Magma,
Barry Ungar,
Marine Girls,
Bush Tetras,
R.M.O.,
Scott Walker,
Whodini,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Model 500,
Marshall Jefferson,
U.S. Maple,
Darondo,
The Dave Clark Five,
Young Marble Giants,
the Sonics,
Ultra Naté,
The Victims,
Fat Boys,
Y Pants,
John Lydon,
Joe Smooth,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Scion,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.