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 Marshall Islands and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 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 Wolf Eyes to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Chris & Cosey. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Albert Ayler,
Wings,
Connie Case,
Index,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Barbara Tucker,
The Gap Band,
Pharoah Sanders,
Fugazi,
Ultra Naté,
Hardrive,
Inner City,
The Index,
Monolake,
LL Cool J,
U.S. Maple,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Skarface,
The Saints,
Brick,
UT,
Con Funk Shun,
Interpol,
The Grass Roots,
Babytalk,
Flamin' Groovies,
Severed Heads,
Aaron Thompson,
The Standells,
Jeff Lynne,
Idris Muhammad,
Livin' Joy,
The Invisible,
The Human League,
Hasil Adkins,
David Axelrod,
The Wake,
The Moleskins,
Judy Mowatt,
The Gories,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Velvet Underground,
Hoover,
Siglo XX,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Slackers,
Ornette Coleman,
Bobby Byrd,
David McCallum,
Patti Smith,
R.M.O.,
Au Pairs,
The Tremeloes,
Soulsonic Force,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Dirtbombs,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.