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 Germany 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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Barrington Levy 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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every China Crisis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Prince Buster,
Idris Muhammad,
E-Dancer,
Robert Wyatt,
The Angels of Light,
The Skatalites,
Intrusion,
Inner City,
The Last Poets,
kango's stein massive,
Kerrie Biddell,
Ornette Coleman,
Public Image Ltd.,
Amon Düül II,
Crooked Eye,
Aaron Thompson,
David McCallum,
Y Pants,
Yusef Lateef,
Pagans,
Eve St. Jones,
Althea and Donna,
Reagan Youth,
Echospace,
the Sonics,
Country Teasers,
Ultravox,
Jerry's Kids,
Altered Images,
R.M.O.,
MDC,
Soft Machine,
Susan Cadogan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Glenn Branca,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Trumans Water,
Lalo Schifrin,
Agitation Free,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Pussy Galore,
Piero Umiliani,
The Cure,
Theoretical Girls,
Colin Newman,
Matthew Halsall,
The Smiths,
Hardrive,
Cymande,
KRS-One,
Ituana,
Janne Schatter,
Livin' Joy,
X-101,
Black Flag,
Camberwell Now,
Radio Birdman,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.