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 Costa Rica and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Nils Olav to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All The Tremeloes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Halsall record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Searchers,
June of 44,
Guru Guru,
Morten Harket,
Jacob Miller,
Unwound,
The Walker Brothers,
The Mummies,
New York Dolls,
Bizarre Inc.,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Piero Umiliani,
Dawn Penn,
Alice Coltrane,
Pere Ubu,
Inner City,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Stooges,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Blossom Toes,
The Motions,
Eden Ahbez,
Soft Cell,
Essential Logic,
Boogie Down Productions,
David Bowie,
Roger Hodgson,
Joe Finger,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Grass Roots,
Quando Quango,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Agitation Free,
Loose Ends,
Zero Boys,
Shoche,
Smog,
The Red Krayola,
Ossler,
Chris & Cosey,
The Selecter,
Soft Machine,
Todd Rundgren,
Bill Wells,
Nation of Ulysses,
Altered Images,
This Heat,
Ponytail,
cv313,
Bobby Byrd,
Bang On A Can,
Mission of Burma,
Traffic Nightmare,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Second Layer,
Alison Limerick,
The Angels of Light,
Mandrill,
Brand Nubian,
Fugazi,
Ituana,
The Neon Judgement,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.