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 Liechtenstein and from Milan.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 linndrum 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 Eve St. Jones to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All The Zeros tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Motorama,
Brand Nubian,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Sound,
Juan Atkins,
Nils Olav,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
New York Dolls,
These Immortal Souls,
Ituana,
Reuben Wilson,
Minny Pops,
Maurizio,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mo-Dettes,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Cluster,
Visage,
David Bowie,
Sun City Girls,
The Gories,
Robert Görl,
The Associates,
Ronan,
Joy Division,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Dead C,
Mars,
Roger Hodgson,
Tears for Fears,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Hashim,
Negative Approach,
Jimmy McGriff,
Grandmaster Flash,
Qualms,
Eric Dolphy,
Urselle,
Saccharine Trust,
X-101,
A Certain Ratio,
Massinfluence,
Bill Near,
The Fugs,
Yaz,
Pole,
MC5,
The Blackbyrds,
X-102,
Nation of Ulysses,
China Crisis,
Jacques Brel,
Shoche,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Fortunes,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Zeros,
Eli Mardock,
Jawbox, Jawbox, Jawbox, Jawbox.
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.