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 Kenya and from Taipei.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Calgary.
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 Captain Beefheart 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 Stereo Dub to the funk 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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Red Lorry Yellow Lorry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minny Pops record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scott Walker,
Cal Tjader,
F. McDonald,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bizarre Inc.,
Eli Mardock,
David McCallum,
the Germs,
Marcia Griffiths,
Bad Manners,
Porter Ricks,
D'Angelo,
Harmonia,
The Sound,
Model 500,
Albert Ayler,
Ultra Naté,
The Moleskins,
Unrelated Segments,
Freddie Wadling,
The Index,
the Slits,
Bang On A Can,
Tears for Fears,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Nas,
Von Mondo,
The Count Five,
The Skatalites,
Tropical Tobacco,
Leonard Cohen,
The Selecter,
Prince Buster,
James White and The Blacks,
Amazonics,
Gang Starr,
Jandek,
the Human League,
Crime,
Pantaleimon,
Pulsallama,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Average White Band,
The Move,
Bronski Beat,
Anakelly,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bill Near,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Magma,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Walker Brothers,
Al Stewart,
Icehouse,
Soul II Soul,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Litter,
The Monochrome Set,
Crash Course in Science,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.