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 Tuvalu and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Stockholm.
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 harpsichord 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 Moby Grape to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. All the underground hits.
All The Gap Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T. Rex 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fortunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Basic Channel,
Nico,
Eric Dolphy,
New York Dolls,
Outsiders,
Smog,
Technova,
Siglo XX,
Babytalk,
Khruangbin,
The Kinks,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lightning Bolt,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bronski Beat,
The Fugs,
Sonny Sharrock,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Roy Ayers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Brass Construction,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Crooked Eye,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Invisible,
Sound Behaviour,
Suicide,
The Angels of Light,
Howard Jones,
Yellowson,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Kurtis Blow,
Silicon Teens,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Can,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Leaves,
Ronnie Foster,
The Dirtbombs,
Bluetip,
Juan Atkins,
the Swans,
Excepter,
Grandmaster Flash,
Deakin,
Qualms,
Angry Samoans,
New Age Steppers,
Archie Shepp,
Livin' Joy,
Terry Callier,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Happenings,
Oneida,
The Cowsills,
Zapp,
Lyres,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.