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 Equatorial Guinea and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 marimba 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 Grauzone to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Ice-T tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Evens 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Altered Images record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Negative Approach,
The Sonics,
The Raincoats,
The Saints,
Albert Ayler,
The Seeds,
Jacques Brel,
Danielle Patucci,
Pharoah Sanders,
Radiohead,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Pussy Galore,
Brand Nubian,
John Holt,
Funkadelic,
Arab on Radar,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Crime,
Porter Ricks,
Radio Birdman,
Neu!,
The Last Poets,
Lower 48,
Dorothy Ashby,
Neil Young,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Roxette,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sarah Menescal,
Fluxion,
L. Decosne,
Robert Wyatt,
Henry Cow,
Grey Daturas,
Little Man,
Rotary Connection,
Wire,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Fat Boys,
Technova,
Lalo Schifrin,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Cal Tjader,
Bizarre Inc.,
Nation of Ulysses,
Fugazi,
The Real Kids,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Isaac Hayes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Graham Central Station,
Kerrie Biddell,
Rakim,
LL Cool J,
The Moody Blues,
Minor Threat,
EPMD,
Bobby Womack,
Tres Demented,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.