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 Vietnam and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Throbbing Gristle to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Selecter. All the underground hits.
All Flash Fearless tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Buckinghams record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlbäck record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
The Standells,
Roxy Music,
Babytalk,
Cheater Slicks,
The Residents,
New Age Steppers,
Pussy Galore,
Sugar Minott,
Kerri Chandler,
Mars,
The Evens,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Divine Comedy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Nas,
Throbbing Gristle,
Porter Ricks,
Graham Central Station,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lou Reed,
The Techniques,
Stereo Dub,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Hasil Adkins,
Blake Baxter,
DNA,
Kerrie Biddell,
Blossom Toes,
Piero Umiliani,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sonic Youth,
The Detroit Cobras,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Invisible,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jimmy McGriff,
Rod Modell,
MDC,
Alton Ellis,
The Vogues,
David Axelrod,
DJ Sneak,
Kool Moe Dee,
John Coltrane,
The Remains,
Scratch Acid,
Warsaw,
Hardrive,
Lucky Dragons,
Traffic Nightmare,
These Immortal Souls,
Joe Smooth,
Soul Sonic Force,
Arab on Radar,
The Human League,
Bauhaus,
Brass Construction,
Monolake,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Seeds,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.