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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Tehran.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Young Rascals. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
Big Daddy Kane,
Radio Birdman,
Intrusion,
the Swans,
Idris Muhammad,
Fad Gadget,
Nick Fraelich,
Robert Görl,
Subhumans,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Neu!,
Average White Band,
Godley & Creme,
Dual Sessions,
Country Teasers,
10cc,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bauhaus,
Graham Central Station,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Blackbyrds,
The J.B.'s,
Severed Heads,
Lee Hazlewood,
Thompson Twins,
Fela Kuti,
The Move,
Scrapy,
Aswad,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Brass Construction,
The Knickerbockers,
Sun Ra,
the Association,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gang of Four,
Jacob Miller,
Joyce Sims,
U.S. Maple,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lou Reed,
Lightning Bolt,
Jacques Brel,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Porter Ricks,
Lalann,
Cheater Slicks,
Underground Resistance,
Man Parrish,
Lungfish,
Radiohead,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Gories,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Audionom,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Flamin' Groovies,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.