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 Uganda and from Houston.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 snare 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 Real Kids to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television Personalities,
PIL,
Scrapy,
Bobby Sherman,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Inner City,
Rod Modell,
Ludus,
Toni Rubio,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Tim Buckley,
Lyres,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Andrew Hill,
Mary Jane Girls,
Gang Starr,
Faraquet,
R.M.O.,
The Black Dice,
Pantaleimon,
The Tremeloes,
Rites of Spring,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Cecil Taylor,
Sarah Menescal,
Echospace,
Spoonie Gee,
The Monochrome Set,
Reuben Wilson,
The Trojans,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
David Bowie,
The Count Five,
The Divine Comedy,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Make Up,
Fatback Band,
Peter and Kerry,
Dawn Penn,
Albert Ayler,
In Retrospect,
Qualms,
Pulsallama,
Von Mondo,
Surgeon,
Jacob Miller,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Excepter,
Grauzone,
Shuggie Otis,
Joy Division,
Scion,
Harry Pussy,
Gastr Del Sol,
Maurizio,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Mummies,
Marine Girls,
The Wake,
Sun City Girls,
Depeche Mode,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.