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 South Sudan and from Taipei.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Spokane.
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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bobby Byrd to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 OOIOO. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quando Quango record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
The Mummies,
Camouflage,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Neon Judgement,
Tubeway Army,
John Cale,
Black Flag,
Man Parrish,
Morten Harket,
Ronnie Foster,
Franke,
Ituana,
Yazoo,
The Barracudas,
Fatback Band,
Zero Boys,
Ash Ra Tempel,
John Coltrane,
OOIOO,
John Lydon,
Deadbeat,
Royal Trux,
Flash Fearless,
Fear,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Be Bop Deluxe,
L. Decosne,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Y Pants,
Public Enemy,
Ultimate Spinach,
Dennis Brown,
Terry Callier,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Vainqueur,
Aural Exciters,
Heaven 17,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Move,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Pet Shop Boys,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Cymande,
PIL,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Blancmange,
Groovy Waters,
Magazine,
Lightning Bolt,
U.S. Maple,
The Searchers,
The Happenings,
Hashim,
Parry Music,
Skarface,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars.
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.