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 South Africa and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The American Breed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lyres record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Gang Dance,
The Motions,
Charles Mingus,
48th St. Collective,
8 Eyed Spy,
Cheater Slicks,
Icehouse,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Jacques Brel,
Girls At Our Best!,
Minutemen,
Roger Hodgson,
Gang Starr,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Susan Cadogan,
Max Romeo,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Stetsasonic,
Archie Shepp,
Jeff Lynne,
La Düsseldorf,
Rekid,
Althea and Donna,
Robert Wyatt,
Half Japanese,
Peter and Kerry,
Man Eating Sloth,
Siglo XX,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Todd Terry,
John Foxx,
Japan,
Y Pants,
Sam Rivers,
Shuggie Otis,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Fugazi,
Avey Tare,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Prince Buster,
Anakelly,
Boogie Down Productions,
Mr. Review,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Oneida,
The Red Krayola,
The Divine Comedy,
Aaron Thompson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Barrington Levy,
The Mummies,
Slick Rick,
Harmonia,
Marmalade,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Cameo,
The Cramps,
Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez.
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.