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 Cuba and from Lagos.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Minny Pops to the electroclash 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 The Selecter. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Sonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharoah Sanders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
Josef K,
Niagra,
Saccharine Trust,
Marmalade,
Freddie Wadling,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Invisible,
The Stooges,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Unwound,
Slick Rick,
Pantaleimon,
Jacques Brel,
Yusef Lateef,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Masters at Work,
In Retrospect,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pulsallama,
Grauzone,
Fifty Foot Hose,
X-Ray Spex,
The Skatalites,
The Dirtbombs,
Lou Reed,
Fad Gadget,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Country Teasers,
Lyres,
Gang Starr,
Black Bananas,
Gastr Del Sol,
Neil Young,
ABC,
Agitation Free,
The Blackbyrds,
Marcia Griffiths,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Henry Cow,
Ronnie Foster,
Wasted Youth,
Lucky Dragons,
Nas,
The Slackers,
Parry Music,
Suicide,
Arab on Radar,
AZ,
Deadbeat,
Royal Trux,
T.S.O.L.,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Piero Umiliani,
Eric Dolphy,
Quadrant,
The Martian,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Dead C,
Johnny Osbourne,
Hasil Adkins,
Alton Ellis,
Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag.
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.