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 Grenada and from Hong Kong.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Ultramagnetic MC's to the jazz 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 Scion. All the underground hits.
All Tropical Tobacco tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Chocolate Watch Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pylon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Loose Ends,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Section 25,
Junior Murvin,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Girls At Our Best!,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crispy Ambulance,
the Swans,
Marshall Jefferson,
Pole,
Don Cherry,
The Durutti Column,
Moss Icon,
Gabor Szabo,
Malaria!,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Danielle Patucci,
Jacob Miller,
Fela Kuti,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
10cc,
Suicide,
The Leaves,
Massinfluence,
DJ Sneak,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Ossler,
The Monochrome Set,
Gichy Dan,
Pagans,
Ken Boothe,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Scratch Acid,
Leonard Cohen,
The Birthday Party,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gil Scott Heron,
Country Teasers,
Bronski Beat,
The Music Machine,
Judy Mowatt,
The Smoke,
Graham Central Station,
Black Sheep,
Ice-T,
48th St. Collective,
Soft Cell,
Icehouse,
Dark Day,
These Immortal Souls,
The Zeros,
Joyce Sims,
The Electric Prunes,
Bang On A Can,
Sällskapet,
Mr. Review,
Warren Ellis,
Steve Hackett,
Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth.
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.