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 Sudan and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Cairo.
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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Barbara Tucker to the crunk 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 The Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Strawberry Alarm Clock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Brick,
Angry Samoans,
Tim Buckley,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Motions,
Traffic Nightmare,
Graham Central Station,
Pantaleimon,
Von Mondo,
Gerry Rafferty,
Amazonics,
Tears for Fears,
Au Pairs,
The Techniques,
Gang Starr,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Half Japanese,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
June Days,
Hashim,
Kerri Chandler,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ornette Coleman,
Lee Hazlewood,
Sonny Sharrock,
Easy Going,
The Cramps,
Tom Boy,
David Bowie,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Associates,
The United States of America,
Television Personalities,
Rod Modell,
Lucky Dragons,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Amon Düül,
The Residents,
The Electric Prunes,
Wire,
Echospace,
Ronan,
Goldenarms,
Hot Snakes,
The Trojans,
The Litter,
The Knickerbockers,
Cecil Taylor,
Harry Pussy,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Inner City,
Q and Not U,
Drexciya,
the Bar-Kays,
Monolake,
Symarip,
Swans,
Sugar Minott,
Nas,
Reagan Youth,
The Standells,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.