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 Mauritania and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Alison Limerick to the disco 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 Tremeloes. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Little Man record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Sun City Girls,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Matthew Halsall,
The Index,
Bizarre Inc.,
X-Ray Spex,
Khruangbin,
Subhumans,
Drive Like Jehu,
Absolute Body Control,
E-Dancer,
Dorothy Ashby,
Eve St. Jones,
The Gun Club,
Stiv Bators,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Monochrome Set,
Thee Headcoats,
Pantytec,
Cybotron,
Wasted Youth,
The Slits,
Joe Finger,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Minutemen,
The Stooges,
Andrew Hill,
Ornette Coleman,
Main Source,
Fat Boys,
Unwound,
Audionom,
The Knickerbockers,
Agitation Free,
June of 44,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bill Wells,
Sunsets and Hearts,
T. Rex,
The Gladiators,
Babytalk,
Pharoah Sanders,
Masters at Work,
Bobby Sherman,
Letta Mbulu,
Jeff Lynne,
Yusef Lateef,
Pole,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Black Bananas,
Ossler,
Fela Kuti,
Index,
Blake Baxter,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
FM Einheit,
DNA,
Crime,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.