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 Bhutan and from Glasgow.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Michael McDonald 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 Angry Samoans to the punk 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 Agent Orange. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June Days record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Be Bop Deluxe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Marine Girls,
Boz Scaggs,
Glenn Branca,
Thompson Twins,
The Move,
Robert Wyatt,
Freddie Wadling,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
KRS-One,
The Misunderstood,
Juan Atkins,
Robert Hood,
Jeff Mills,
Junior Murvin,
Aural Exciters,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lee Hazlewood,
Sam Rivers,
Ice-T,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Organ,
The Wake,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Stockholm Monsters,
Wally Richardson,
The Flesh Eaters,
Al Stewart,
New Age Steppers,
Black Sheep,
The Birthday Party,
Massinfluence,
The Happenings,
the Soft Cell,
Man Parrish,
Hardrive,
The Velvet Underground,
U.S. Maple,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Monochrome Set,
The Neon Judgement,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
John Coltrane,
Kaleidoscope,
the Association,
The Gap Band,
Ronnie Foster,
Delta 5,
Easy Going,
Agent Orange,
The Mojo Men,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Ludus,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
T. Rex,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.