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 Zimbabwe 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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lagos.
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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Q and Not U to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Moody Blues. All the underground hits.
All UT tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Country Teasers,
Dawn Penn,
Stiv Bators,
The Seeds,
The Walker Brothers,
Eve St. Jones,
Lou Christie,
Fear,
The Remains,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Juan Atkins,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
A Certain Ratio,
Easy Going,
These Immortal Souls,
Donald Byrd,
Bauhaus,
The Young Rascals,
Idris Muhammad,
Agitation Free,
Matthew Bourne,
Todd Rundgren,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gong,
10cc,
Barry Ungar,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Bar-Kays,
Tropical Tobacco,
Minor Threat,
Masters at Work,
The Gories,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
X-101,
Dark Day,
Junior Murvin,
Roger Hodgson,
Nirvana,
Monks,
The Gap Band,
The Five Americans,
Infiniti,
Subhumans,
Cybotron,
Nation of Ulysses,
Erasure,
The Count Five,
cv313,
Charles Mingus,
The Slits,
Carl Craig,
The Stooges,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Association,
Warsaw,
Magma,
Prince Buster,
Minny Pops,
Groovy Waters,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Franke, Franke, Franke, Franke.
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.