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 Vanuatu and from Tehran.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Eli Mardock to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Lalann tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy's Rubber Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thee Headcoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Swans,
The Doors,
The Black Dice,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
China Crisis,
Symarip,
Scrapy,
Clear Light,
June of 44,
Excepter,
The Motions,
Groovy Waters,
Hashim,
The Skatalites,
The Leaves,
Tomorrow,
The Fugs,
Mandrill,
Leonard Cohen,
JFA,
The Stooges,
Graham Central Station,
Ten City,
the Fania All-Stars,
Tom Boy,
Pole,
Juan Atkins,
Royal Trux,
Max Romeo,
Lower 48,
Thompson Twins,
Jacob Miller,
The Evens,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
10cc,
Moby Grape,
Sonny Sharrock,
Robert Wyatt,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Youth Brigade,
Black Bananas,
The Sonics,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Raincoats,
June Days,
Brick,
Al Stewart,
Accadde A,
Michelle Simonal,
The Fortunes,
Sun City Girls,
The Gap Band,
the Sonics,
Nils Olav,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Sugar Minott,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red.
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.