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 Luxembourg and from Delhi.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Intrusion to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Drive Like Jehu. All the underground hits.
All The Pretty Things tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Whodini 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
Joensuu 1685,
Zero Boys,
The Litter,
Nirvana,
The Buckinghams,
Intrusion,
Procol Harum,
Moby Grape,
Howard Jones,
Tears for Fears,
L. Decosne,
Skaos,
Dave Gahan,
Letta Mbulu,
Sonny Sharrock,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Lou Christie,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Unrelated Segments,
Wasted Youth,
Boogie Down Productions,
Danielle Patucci,
Wire,
The Kinks,
Morten Harket,
The Cure,
Q and Not U,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ponytail,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Minny Pops,
The Vogues,
The Black Dice,
Easy Going,
The Residents,
Soft Cell,
Franke,
Cecil Taylor,
Babytalk,
MDC,
Barbara Tucker,
Yusef Lateef,
Boz Scaggs,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Minor Threat,
Lee Hazlewood,
Ohio Players,
The Beau Brummels,
Kerri Chandler,
Camouflage,
Accadde A,
Man Eating Sloth,
Robert Wyatt,
New York Dolls,
The Fall,
The Trojans,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Buzzcocks,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.