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 Eritrea and from Tokyo.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Toronto.
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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Malaria!. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul Sonic Force,
Kayak,
Guru Guru,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Litter,
Subhumans,
Malaria!,
Alice Coltrane,
The Cowsills,
Radio Birdman,
The Sound,
James White and The Blacks,
The Seeds,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pagans,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gang Green,
Television Personalities,
The Slits,
Dead Boys,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Crime,
Icehouse,
AZ,
Robert Wyatt,
Camberwell Now,
Echospace,
The Tremeloes,
Eden Ahbez,
The Pretty Things,
Fluxion,
Fela Kuti,
Hashim,
Fatback Band,
Duran Duran,
Kenny Larkin,
Jacob Miller,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Maleditus Sound,
Chrome,
Cluster,
Depeche Mode,
Kaleidoscope,
Josef K,
Roxy Music,
cv313,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bobby Womack,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
These Immortal Souls,
The Mojo Men,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Associates,
Throbbing Gristle,
F. McDonald,
Henry Cow,
Gabor Szabo,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Howard Jones,
Sound Behaviour,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.