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 Latvia and from Accra.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Derrick Morgan to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Model 500. All the underground hits.
All Japan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiohead 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aloha Tigers,
Average White Band,
Fatback Band,
Ralphi Rosario,
Blancmange,
10cc,
Frankie Knuckles,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Zapp,
Peter and Kerry,
Carl Craig,
Funky Four + One,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Khruangbin,
Mandrill,
The Pop Group,
The Invisible,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Kinks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bush Tetras,
Jawbox,
Susan Cadogan,
K-Klass,
Unrelated Segments,
Franke,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Negative Approach,
Barbara Tucker,
Japan,
Eric Copeland,
Bootsy Collins,
the Soft Cell,
X-101,
Neil Young,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bob Dylan,
Roxy Music,
Arthur Verocai,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Charles Mingus,
cv313,
Pagans,
Lalann,
Tom Boy,
Theoretical Girls,
Josef K,
Alison Limerick,
Mars,
Rosa Yemen,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
the Swans,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Zeros,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Erykah Badu,
Tubeway Army,
Cecil Taylor,
Erasure,
Lou Christie,
Scion,
Marvin Gaye,
The Sonics,
Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green.
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.