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 Mozambique 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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 marimba 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 Pharoah Sanders to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Harry Pussy. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Pus 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 a snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun City Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
Peter and Kerry,
Interpol,
Max Romeo,
MC5,
The Electric Prunes,
Cymande,
Bush Tetras,
Sight & Sound,
48th St. Collective,
Sarah Menescal,
The Neon Judgement,
Franke,
Newcleus,
Letta Mbulu,
The United States of America,
Crime,
Roxette,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Absolute Body Control,
Lightning Bolt,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ponytail,
Young Marble Giants,
The Trojans,
Terrestrial Tones,
Marshall Jefferson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dark Day,
Soft Machine,
the Sonics,
Lungfish,
Lakeside,
Sonny Sharrock,
Can,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Drexciya,
Tropical Tobacco,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Fat Boys,
The Gories,
Rapeman,
Judy Mowatt,
Glambeats Corp.,
Skriet,
Ituana,
The Real Kids,
Mad Mike,
Magma,
The Golliwogs,
The Mummies,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Blake Baxter,
Easy Going,
Donald Byrd,
Curtis Mayfield,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Half Japanese,
Qualms,
Malaria!,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.