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 Japan and from Bremen.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Ken Boothe to the grunge 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 Fluxion. All the underground hits.
All D'Angelo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tears for Fears record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Silicon Teens,
Zero Boys,
John Foxx,
Iggy Pop,
Radiopuhelimet,
Vainqueur,
Leonard Cohen,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Suburban Knight,
Tears for Fears,
The Monochrome Set,
Ultra Naté,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pierre Henry,
Carl Craig,
Jeff Lynne,
The Litter,
Ohio Players,
Symarip,
The Raincoats,
The Kinks,
Ronnie Foster,
Heaven 17,
Nils Olav,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Yaz,
Derrick Morgan,
Black Sheep,
The Offenders,
Bill Wells,
Erasure,
Davy DMX,
Anakelly,
Ornette Coleman,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Association,
The Grass Roots,
Andrew Hill,
Aswad,
Mission of Burma,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Groovy Waters,
K-Klass,
UT,
Scan 7,
Underground Resistance,
Cymande,
48th St. Collective,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bizarre Inc.,
Donald Byrd,
the Bar-Kays,
Wally Richardson,
Unwound,
Archie Shepp,
David Bowie,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Delta 5,
The Gun Club,
Barry Ungar,
Subhumans,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.