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 Costa Rica and from Glasgow.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 clarinet 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog to the crunk 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 The Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All Excepter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crash Course in Science record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
the Soft Cell,
Sight & Sound,
Lou Reed,
The Tremeloes,
KRS-One,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bang On A Can,
Brothers Johnson,
Scott Walker,
Radiopuhelimet,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Howard Jones,
The Toasters,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
L. Decosne,
World's Most,
The Offenders,
Hoover,
Negative Approach,
John Holt,
Reagan Youth,
Alphaville,
The Blackbyrds,
kango's stein massive,
DNA,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bill Wells,
Little Man,
Pere Ubu,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Judy Mowatt,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bill Near,
Flash Fearless,
Lebanon Hanover,
Sister Nancy,
Ornette Coleman,
Minnie Riperton,
Quadrant,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sun Ra,
The Buckinghams,
Minutemen,
Q and Not U,
Boredoms,
Lakeside,
Kenny Larkin,
Archie Shepp,
The Names,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Stooges,
Anthony Braxton,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Wake,
Subhumans,
Cecil Taylor,
Theoretical Girls,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Trumans Water,
The Doors,
Eli Mardock,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.