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 Eritrea and from Edmonton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 oboe 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 The Birthday Party to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience. All the underground hits.
All Ronan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ash Ra Tempel 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 a rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ten City record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cure,
Bronski Beat,
T.S.O.L.,
Don Cherry,
Lebanon Hanover,
Harry Pussy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
the Germs,
Leonard Cohen,
The Trojans,
Nils Olav,
The Birthday Party,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
AZ,
Little Man,
The Associates,
Yusef Lateef,
H. Thieme,
Fugazi,
Arcadia,
Porter Ricks,
Cal Tjader,
The Sonics,
the Soft Cell,
Soul Sonic Force,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pole,
Outsiders,
Morten Harket,
Severed Heads,
Alison Limerick,
The Fortunes,
Scan 7,
Steve Hackett,
K-Klass,
Urselle,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Qualms,
Magazine,
Wally Richardson,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Wake,
Alton Ellis,
The Detroit Cobras,
Newcleus,
Robert Wyatt,
The Litter,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
MDC,
The Invisible,
Lower 48,
Funkadelic,
Mo-Dettes,
Alice Coltrane,
Basic Channel,
Lyres,
Grey Daturas,
New York Dolls,
Bobby Byrd,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Eddi Front,
The Victims,
Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims.
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.