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 Brazil and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Half Japanese to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Animal Collective. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Prince Buster,
Suburban Knight,
Monolake,
Wolf Eyes,
Alice Coltrane,
Terry Callier,
Country Teasers,
Archie Shepp,
Kerrie Biddell,
Ituana,
Gong,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Leonard Cohen,
Quando Quango,
The Seeds,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Throbbing Gristle,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Offenders,
Lou Christie,
Ohio Players,
Surgeon,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Blossom Toes,
Soft Cell,
Spoonie Gee,
Animal Collective,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rotary Connection,
Toni Rubio,
Nick Fraelich,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Moebius,
Drexciya,
Con Funk Shun,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Minutemen,
Patti Smith,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
La Düsseldorf,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Essential Logic,
LL Cool J,
Black Flag,
Sound Behaviour,
The Five Americans,
World's Most,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Alison Limerick,
Judy Mowatt,
Deepchord,
John Lydon,
Mr. Review,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Todd Terry,
Man Parrish,
the Slits,
Soft Machine,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Agent Orange,
Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics.
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.