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 Malaysia and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Brick to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Wings tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
John Coltrane,
Ludus,
Chris Corsano,
Siglo XX,
The Skatalites,
Colin Newman,
Blancmange,
Amon Düül,
Y Pants,
Robert Hood,
FM Einheit,
K-Klass,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Blackbyrds,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Faraquet,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tim Buckley,
Funky Four + One,
The Black Dice,
Joy Division,
The Wake,
Tubeway Army,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fela Kuti,
The Slits,
The Fugs,
The Selecter,
Blake Baxter,
Rakim,
The Associates,
The Stooges,
Anthony Braxton,
Scientists,
Excepter,
the Bar-Kays,
Harry Pussy,
Brass Construction,
Icehouse,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
David Axelrod,
La Düsseldorf,
Newcleus,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
ABC,
Spoonie Gee,
The Electric Prunes,
Davy DMX,
Bad Manners,
The Gories,
John Lydon,
The Moody Blues,
Interpol,
Barrington Levy,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Crime,
Second Layer,
Fluxion, Fluxion, Fluxion, Fluxion.
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.