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 Copenhagen.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 spring reverb 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 Technova to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Juan Atkins. All the underground hits.
All The Angels of Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kevin Saunderson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Y Pants,
Boz Scaggs,
Monolake,
Judy Mowatt,
Reuben Wilson,
Eddi Front,
The Shadows of Knight,
Vainqueur,
Barrington Levy,
The Invisible,
Minutemen,
Wings,
Flash Fearless,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Warren Ellis,
Roxy Music,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Warsaw,
The Detroit Cobras,
Quando Quango,
Mandrill,
Leonard Cohen,
Pantytec,
The United States of America,
The Cowsills,
The Martian,
Fat Boys,
Rufus Thomas,
Tommy Roe,
UT,
The Names,
Skriet,
Babytalk,
Albert Ayler,
the Fania All-Stars,
Metal Thangz,
The Golliwogs,
Grandmaster Flash,
Public Enemy,
The Misunderstood,
Supertramp,
Marvin Gaye,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Public Image Ltd.,
Nik Kershaw,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
DNA,
Stetsasonic,
Harry Pussy,
Roy Ayers,
Gabor Szabo,
Agent Orange,
Barbara Tucker,
Johnny Clarke,
Wally Richardson,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Nirvana,
Alphaville,
Q and Not U,
Quantec, Quantec, Quantec, Quantec.
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.