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 Marshall Islands and from Paris.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Oneida to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All John Foxx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Pus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Camouflage,
Cameo,
ABC,
Funkadelic,
OOIOO,
Audionom,
E-Dancer,
Ohio Players,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Prince Buster,
Flash Fearless,
Mission of Burma,
Rod Modell,
Wolf Eyes,
The Blackbyrds,
Hardrive,
World's Most,
Altered Images,
Juan Atkins,
Gichy Dan,
Flipper,
The Raincoats,
Scion,
The Gun Club,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Deakin,
Kas Product,
the Slits,
The Moleskins,
Mantronix,
Guru Guru,
The Doors,
The Cowsills,
Urselle,
Amazonics,
The Kinks,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Intrusion,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Cymande,
The Last Poets,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Tres Demented,
Lou Reed,
Shoche,
R.M.O.,
Siglo XX,
Crispian St. Peters,
Steve Hackett,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Section 25,
Eden Ahbez,
U.S. Maple,
Thompson Twins,
Ronnie Foster,
Schoolly D,
Rapeman,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.