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 Iraq and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 Tom Verlaine 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 techno 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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boredoms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barry Ungar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultra Naté,
Terry Callier,
UT,
Bauhaus,
Hashim,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Scientists,
Fugazi,
The Motions,
Ossler,
New Age Steppers,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Star Department,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gil Scott Heron,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Eddi Front,
Chrome,
Michelle Simonal,
Jacob Miller,
Aural Exciters,
Qualms,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Surgeon,
Blossom Toes,
Marine Girls,
Bobby Womack,
Todd Rundgren,
The Barracudas,
Organ,
Henry Cow,
Cymande,
Radiopuhelimet,
Yaz,
The Skatalites,
Lower 48,
Barbara Tucker,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Bill Near,
Radiohead,
Deepchord,
Mars,
Youth Brigade,
Marshall Jefferson,
Drexciya,
Funkadelic,
The Victims,
Flamin' Groovies,
Letta Mbulu,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Velvet Underground,
Theoretical Girls,
Quando Quango,
Kenny Larkin,
Fat Boys,
Interpol,
Slick Rick,
Desert Stars,
Johnny Osbourne,
Radio Birdman,
Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron.
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.