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 Italy and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 oboe 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 Aural Exciters to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aaron Thompson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Sam Rivers,
Simply Red,
Spoonie Gee,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
KRS-One,
David Bowie,
Newcleus,
Kerri Chandler,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Danielle Patucci,
CMW,
The Happenings,
Dual Sessions,
Lindisfarne,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Young Rascals,
The Grass Roots,
Lee Hazlewood,
Loose Ends,
Rufus Thomas,
Cal Tjader,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Swans,
Matthew Bourne,
Chrome,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Move,
Fear,
Reuben Wilson,
The Wake,
Archie Shepp,
Tears for Fears,
DNA,
Peter & Gordon,
Shuggie Otis,
Con Funk Shun,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Moleskins,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
John Lydon,
Alton Ellis,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Liliput,
Basic Channel,
Drexciya,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
a-ha,
Kaleidoscope,
The Dirtbombs,
Talk Talk,
Mo-Dettes,
Sight & Sound,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Moebius,
Lou Reed,
The Kinks,
Tropical Tobacco,
Los Fastidios,
Fugazi,
Morten Harket, Morten Harket, Morten Harket, Morten Harket.
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.