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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 chamberlin 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 Dual Sessions to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Easy Going. All the underground hits.
All Television tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tears for Fears 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Piero Umiliani,
The Last Poets,
Soft Cell,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
A Certain Ratio,
Gerry Rafferty,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
DNA,
Sight & Sound,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Smoke,
The Five Americans,
Avey Tare,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Mummies,
Bush Tetras,
Deadbeat,
Prince Buster,
Alice Coltrane,
The Wake,
Ronnie Foster,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kurtis Blow,
10cc,
Depeche Mode,
Moss Icon,
Colin Newman,
Panda Bear,
Quando Quango,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Lou Reed,
Pere Ubu,
Sly & The Family Stone,
X-102,
Amon Düül II,
Lightning Bolt,
Sound Behaviour,
Arcadia,
Maurizio,
The Seeds,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Fat Boys,
Dead Boys,
Hoover,
DJ Sneak,
Cameo,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Nirvana,
Shuggie Otis,
Joe Smooth,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Girls At Our Best!,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rod Modell,
Aaron Thompson,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Robert Wyatt,
Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller.
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.