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 Congo and from Woodstock.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Kool Moe Dee to the punk 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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All The Angels of Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Interpol,
Tears for Fears,
Subhumans,
Derrick May,
The Walker Brothers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Guru Guru,
Max Romeo,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kayak,
Mars,
The Stooges,
the Normal,
KRS-One,
Jandek,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pierre Henry,
Roy Ayers,
Jacob Miller,
the Slits,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Suicide,
Drive Like Jehu,
LL Cool J,
Lightning Bolt,
The Mummies,
a-ha,
Los Fastidios,
Country Teasers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Franke,
Robert Wyatt,
Barry Ungar,
David Bowie,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Shadows of Knight,
Jawbox,
Joey Negro,
Aural Exciters,
Rod Modell,
Procol Harum,
Radiohead,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Glenn Branca,
F. McDonald,
Wolf Eyes,
Moebius,
Colin Newman,
Eric Dolphy,
Ken Boothe,
Surgeon,
The Motions,
David Axelrod,
UT,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lyres,
Pussy Galore,
Todd Terry,
Sällskapet,
Vainqueur,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.