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 Nepal and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 808 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 Motorama to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bootsy's Rubber Band. All the underground hits.
All the Normal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonny Sharrock,
FM Einheit,
The Residents,
Lalo Schifrin,
Agitation Free,
Yaz,
Stereo Dub,
Urselle,
Rufus Thomas,
Brand Nubian,
The Wake,
Jerry's Kids,
Lou Christie,
X-Ray Spex,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Chris & Cosey,
The Toasters,
Ultra Naté,
The Last Poets,
Quando Quango,
Scrapy,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Scratch Acid,
Moebius,
Technova,
Adolescents,
The Misunderstood,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Faust,
The Index,
Shuggie Otis,
Television,
E-Dancer,
Carl Craig,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Associates,
Delon & Dalcan,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Detroit Cobras,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Barrington Levy,
Franke,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sparks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Connie Case,
Sexual Harrassment,
Crash Course in Science,
The American Breed,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Shoche,
Pierre Henry,
48th St. Collective,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Modern Lovers,
Amon Düül II,
The Doors,
The Cramps,
Bush Tetras,
Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger.
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.