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 Panama and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Michael McDonald 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 Fugazi to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Simply Red. All the underground hits.
All Aswad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Pus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aswad,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Severed Heads,
Franke,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Niagra,
Stereo Dub,
Soulsonic Force,
Erykah Badu,
Monks,
Roy Ayers,
Stiv Bators,
The Count Five,
Bootsy Collins,
Bang On A Can,
The Human League,
The Detroit Cobras,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Tubeway Army,
The Monochrome Set,
Gil Scott Heron,
Wally Richardson,
Newcleus,
LL Cool J,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sunsets and Hearts,
CMW,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kerri Chandler,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Crispy Ambulance,
Albert Ayler,
The Sonics,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Andrew Hill,
D'Angelo,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Alphaville,
Surgeon,
Carl Craig,
Boogie Down Productions,
Cybotron,
Supertramp,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Music Machine,
Eddi Front,
Godley & Creme,
Average White Band,
Young Marble Giants,
UT,
Cal Tjader,
DNA,
Swans,
Von Mondo,
Echospace,
Symarip,
Barclay James Harvest,
Skaos,
The Blues Magoos,
Scion, Scion, Scion, Scion.
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.