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 Jamaica and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 arpeggiator 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 The Detroit Cobras to the electroclash 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 Faust. All the underground hits.
All B.T. Express tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sarah Menescal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
The Dead C,
Icehouse,
The Trojans,
Essential Logic,
Jerry's Kids,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sound Behaviour,
June Days,
Harry Pussy,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Main Source,
Rod Modell,
cv313,
Althea and Donna,
Mars,
John Lydon,
AZ,
Radiohead,
Marshall Jefferson,
Donny Hathaway,
Second Layer,
8 Eyed Spy,
World's Most,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Ossler,
Anthony Braxton,
Severed Heads,
Crooked Eye,
F. McDonald,
New Order,
the Swans,
Visage,
Moebius,
ABC,
Television,
Japan,
UT,
Patti Smith,
Deakin,
Smog,
Don Cherry,
Jacques Brel,
The Move,
Rekid,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eddi Front,
Monks,
Gang Starr,
K-Klass,
Matthew Halsall,
Stockholm Monsters,
Procol Harum,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kevin Saunderson,
Quadrant,
Agitation Free,
Chris & Cosey, Chris & Cosey, Chris & Cosey, Chris & Cosey.
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.