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 Sweden and from Hong Kong.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 organ 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 Curtis Mayfield to the electroclash 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 FM Einheit. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Ornette Coleman,
Aural Exciters,
Skarface,
Underground Resistance,
Todd Terry,
The Misunderstood,
Magazine,
Crime,
Jacques Brel,
PIL,
Wally Richardson,
Joy Division,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Grandmaster Flash,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Rapeman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Parry Music,
Glenn Branca,
Rod Modell,
World's Most,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
AZ,
Schoolly D,
Vainqueur,
Byron Stingily,
Amon Düül,
Technova,
Grauzone,
Thompson Twins,
Black Sheep,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Golliwogs,
The Fuzztones,
10cc,
Big Daddy Kane,
Tom Boy,
Minutemen,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Cal Tjader,
Oblivians,
Chrome,
Frankie Knuckles,
Zapp,
F. McDonald,
John Lydon,
Hoover,
Gerry Rafferty,
Soft Machine,
Yellowson,
Albert Ayler,
The Cramps,
Rosa Yemen,
Kevin Saunderson,
Unwound,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Busters,
Letta Mbulu,
Gong,
Brothers Johnson,
Josef K, Josef K, Josef K, Josef K.
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.