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 Lithuania and from Delhi.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 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 Wasted Youth to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Brass Construction. All the underground hits.
All Make Up tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Normal 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 '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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lindisfarne,
Mars,
Ten City,
Lebanon Hanover,
Little Man,
The Happenings,
Altered Images,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Donald Byrd,
the Bar-Kays,
Kevin Saunderson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Surgeon,
Ronnie Foster,
Unwound,
Scientists,
Pierre Henry,
The Divine Comedy,
Crime,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Jandek,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Iggy Pop,
Cal Tjader,
Lightning Bolt,
DNA,
The Monochrome Set,
The Trojans,
Dark Day,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Los Fastidios,
Sparks,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Aswad,
Matthew Bourne,
Alice Coltrane,
These Immortal Souls,
U.S. Maple,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Johnny Osbourne,
Roy Ayers,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Wolf Eyes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Stetsasonic,
The Saints,
New Order,
Ultravox,
One Last Wish,
The Smoke,
Swans,
Nico,
The Dirtbombs,
Jacob Miller,
the Slits,
Deepchord,
Terry Callier,
the Germs,
The Raincoats,
The Doors, The Doors, The Doors, The Doors.
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.