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 Switzerland 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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 güiro 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 Monks to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All The Selecter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Bobby Byrd,
Altered Images,
Barbara Tucker,
Unrelated Segments,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Faraquet,
The Sonics,
Archie Shepp,
Nas,
Eli Mardock,
Das Ding,
Frankie Knuckles,
8 Eyed Spy,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Fluxion,
Lucky Dragons,
the Germs,
The Vogues,
Eden Ahbez,
Kurtis Blow,
OOIOO,
Junior Murvin,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
La Düsseldorf,
Erasure,
The Fall,
Ludus,
The Fuzztones,
Gang of Four,
Yazoo,
Dave Gahan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Von Mondo,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Juan Atkins,
The Kinks,
The Skatalites,
Dead Boys,
Young Marble Giants,
Chris Corsano,
Arcadia,
Tom Boy,
Alphaville,
the Normal,
The Velvet Underground,
Letta Mbulu,
Alison Limerick,
Kerrie Biddell,
Black Flag,
Rufus Thomas,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Detroit Cobras,
Boz Scaggs,
The J.B.'s,
F. McDonald,
Symarip,
Interpol,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Kool Moe Dee,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.