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 Somalia and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 rap 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 The Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stetsasonic 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
The Gun Club,
Laurel Aitken,
Soft Cell,
Skaos,
Bobby Sherman,
Pylon,
Minor Threat,
The Dave Clark Five,
Hashim,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gregory Isaacs,
Basic Channel,
the Sonics,
Circle Jerks,
Ludus,
Pole,
Average White Band,
Scion,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Slick Rick,
Khruangbin,
Ituana,
Zero Boys,
Joensuu 1685,
One Last Wish,
Blossom Toes,
The Detroit Cobras,
Technova,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Mojo Men,
10cc,
The Durutti Column,
Dual Sessions,
Radio Birdman,
Half Japanese,
New York Dolls,
Eric B and Rakim,
Ponytail,
Minutemen,
Funkadelic,
Don Cherry,
Popol Vuh,
Spoonie Gee,
Amon Düül II,
a-ha,
Negative Approach,
Main Source,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Juan Atkins,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fatback Band,
ABC,
Tommy Roe,
KRS-One,
Kaleidoscope,
Janne Schatter,
Dark Day,
Jawbox,
The Cramps,
Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops.
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.