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 Mali and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 kango's stein massive to the techno 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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All The Jesus and Mary Chain tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tommy Roe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
Von Mondo,
Bobby Womack,
The Red Krayola,
The Motions,
The Last Poets,
La Düsseldorf,
Glenn Branca,
Pharoah Sanders,
Harry Pussy,
The Offenders,
Accadde A,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Delta 5,
Yellowson,
Ludus,
The Gladiators,
Brand Nubian,
Matthew Halsall,
Tropical Tobacco,
KRS-One,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Flash Fearless,
Piero Umiliani,
Sexual Harrassment,
Sonic Youth,
Cameo,
Andrew Hill,
Amon Düül,
Donald Byrd,
Eurythmics,
Mary Jane Girls,
Blancmange,
Johnny Osbourne,
David Bowie,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Cecil Taylor,
The Fortunes,
Michelle Simonal,
Arthur Verocai,
The Beau Brummels,
Kurtis Blow,
The Monks,
Magma,
Royal Trux,
World's Most,
Procol Harum,
Guru Guru,
The Doobie Brothers,
Theoretical Girls,
Stockholm Monsters,
Derrick Morgan,
The Walker Brothers,
Animal Collective,
Y Pants,
Skarface,
Reuben Wilson,
Matthew Bourne,
Easy Going,
Das Ding,
Reagan Youth,
Ossler,
Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front.
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.