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 Solomon Islands and from Sao Paulo.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Bremen.
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 clarinet 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 The Men They Couldn't Hang to the electroclash 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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All Masters at Work tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echo & the Bunnymen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Agent Orange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nils Olav,
Y Pants,
Niagra,
Livin' Joy,
Deepchord,
The Kinks,
Tubeway Army,
Susan Cadogan,
The Music Machine,
Theoretical Girls,
Swell Maps,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Golliwogs,
Technova,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Divine Comedy,
Suicide,
Oneida,
Tommy Roe,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Todd Rundgren,
Max Romeo,
Public Image Ltd.,
Shoche,
Kerri Chandler,
The Doors,
Deakin,
cv313,
Cybotron,
Smog,
The Barracudas,
The Walker Brothers,
the Bar-Kays,
Easy Going,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Marvin Gaye,
Alphaville,
Soulsonic Force,
Godley & Creme,
Slick Rick,
John Cale,
Piero Umiliani,
Nirvana,
K-Klass,
Roxy Music,
Funky Four + One,
Todd Terry,
Bootsy Collins,
Heaven 17,
Moebius,
Gang of Four,
Dead Boys,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Shuggie Otis,
Nico,
Ken Boothe,
EPMD,
Bluetip,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc..
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.