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 Dominica and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 güiro 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 Amon Düül II to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faraquet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
Loose Ends,
The Gap Band,
Warren Ellis,
Soft Cell,
Schoolly D,
Charles Mingus,
The Slackers,
Neil Young,
Ituana,
Matthew Bourne,
D'Angelo,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Parry Music,
Bootsy Collins,
John Foxx,
Sam Rivers,
Yusef Lateef,
The Doors,
Soul II Soul,
Model 500,
Todd Rundgren,
The Smoke,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Nils Olav,
R.M.O.,
The Kinks,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Khruangbin,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Gories,
Fear,
Sexual Harrassment,
Junior Murvin,
EPMD,
Malaria!,
Yellowson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Oblivians,
Tears for Fears,
Tommy Roe,
Harpers Bizarre,
New York Dolls,
Lakeside,
The Flesh Eaters,
ABBA,
Henry Cow,
Grey Daturas,
UT,
Hot Snakes,
Dark Day,
Au Pairs,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Aswad,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Visage,
Boogie Down Productions,
This Heat,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.