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 Kazakhstan and from Edmonton.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Houston.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the guitar 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 The J.B.'s to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All Arcadia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Whodini,
The Tremeloes,
Dark Day,
Fear,
Curtis Mayfield,
L. Decosne,
The Pop Group,
Toni Rubio,
Visage,
Gregory Isaacs,
Grey Daturas,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Fluxion,
The Misunderstood,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Flamin' Groovies,
Hasil Adkins,
The Alarm Clocks,
X-102,
Hoover,
Chris & Cosey,
Slave,
FM Einheit,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Anthony Braxton,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Model 500,
Andrew Hill,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobby Sherman,
Jacques Brel,
Banda Bassotti,
Roxy Music,
Lakeside,
Amon Düül,
Loose Ends,
Ronan,
Youth Brigade,
Sonic Youth,
Kevin Saunderson,
Yazoo,
The Stooges,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Grandmaster Flash,
Wire,
Bad Manners,
Simply Red,
Tom Boy,
Kayak,
The Motions,
La Düsseldorf,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
AZ,
Robert Hood,
Crooked Eye,
Y Pants,
the Swans,
Vladislav Delay,
Amon Düül II,
the Slits,
F. McDonald,
Don Cherry,
Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters.
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.