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 Hungary and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Johnny Clarke to the electroclash 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 Scion. All the underground hits.
All Sugar Minott tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Angels of Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Bush Tetras,
Bobby Byrd,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Ken Boothe,
H. Thieme,
Fugazi,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Invisible,
The Dirtbombs,
Jesper Dahlback,
10cc,
Babytalk,
The Slackers,
The Zeros,
The Music Machine,
Ponytail,
Brothers Johnson,
Crooked Eye,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Zapp,
CMW,
Bad Manners,
Vainqueur,
Smog,
Bluetip,
The Flesh Eaters,
Aloha Tigers,
Godley & Creme,
Nirvana,
The Blues Magoos,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Johnny Clarke,
48th St. Collective,
Tom Boy,
Sonny Sharrock,
Fat Boys,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Black Sheep,
the Normal,
Parry Music,
Dark Day,
Boogie Down Productions,
Grauzone,
The Walker Brothers,
The Electric Prunes,
Ultimate Spinach,
Byron Stingily,
Goldenarms,
Surgeon,
The Knickerbockers,
Boredoms,
Rufus Thomas,
Barbara Tucker,
Khruangbin,
Mars,
Dennis Brown,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Oblivians,
Crispy Ambulance,
World's Most, World's Most, World's Most, World's Most.
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.