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 Zambia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Gang of Four to the funk 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 Radio Birdman. All the underground hits.
All Ajijia Myrayebe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jacob Miller record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Toni Rubio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Bang On A Can,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Scrapy,
Reuben Wilson,
Soft Machine,
The Dave Clark Five,
Nico,
the Sonics,
Anakelly,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Von Mondo,
Nirvana,
Ornette Coleman,
Prince Buster,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Black Bananas,
Yellowson,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Malaria!,
Banda Bassotti,
Public Enemy,
June Days,
JFA,
Crime,
The Moleskins,
Agent Orange,
Marcia Griffiths,
Joe Finger,
Cymande,
Ossler,
Au Pairs,
The Zeros,
Michelle Simonal,
Spandau Ballet,
Livin' Joy,
Eden Ahbez,
Bizarre Inc.,
Blake Baxter,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Erykah Badu,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Mojo Men,
The Vogues,
Niagra,
Excepter,
Cheater Slicks,
Bill Wells,
Bronski Beat,
Janne Schatter,
Severed Heads,
Angry Samoans,
Pussy Galore,
Rufus Thomas,
Roxette,
The Kinks,
Joe Smooth,
The Gap Band,
OOIOO,
Television,
Scott Walker,
Kas Product,
New Order,
Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee.
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.