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 Iraq and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 Salvador and Copenhagen.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Clear Light to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Seeds. All the underground hits.
All Moss Icon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Velvet Underground record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Bananas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stockholm Monsters,
Bronski Beat,
The Doors,
D'Angelo,
The Grass Roots,
Pole,
Nation of Ulysses,
Harmonia,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Brass Construction,
Marcia Griffiths,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Sarah Menescal,
New Order,
Agent Orange,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Last Poets,
World's Most,
The Dave Clark Five,
The United States of America,
the Slits,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Neon Judgement,
Big Daddy Kane,
Terry Callier,
Lou Christie,
Radiohead,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mo-Dettes,
The Flesh Eaters,
B.T. Express,
Subhumans,
Crispy Ambulance,
Eric B and Rakim,
Absolute Body Control,
The Dirtbombs,
Silicon Teens,
Johnny Clarke,
The Beau Brummels,
Patti Smith,
Malaria!,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bluetip,
Don Cherry,
Skaos,
The Red Krayola,
Moby Grape,
Hasil Adkins,
The Cramps,
Severed Heads,
Circle Jerks,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Shadows of Knight,
Q and Not U,
The J.B.'s,
Robert Wyatt,
The Buckinghams,
Urselle,
Prince Buster,
Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin.
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.