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 Afghanistan and from New York.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Philadelphia.
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 synthesizer 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 AZ 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 The Cowsills. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Freddie Wadling 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Yusef Lateef,
The Gladiators,
Crispy Ambulance,
Unwound,
Wasted Youth,
Mo-Dettes,
The Star Department,
Lucky Dragons,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Fire Engines,
Lungfish,
Arcadia,
Swell Maps,
Y Pants,
Junior Murvin,
Pussy Galore,
Rhythm & Sound,
Intrusion,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jacques Brel,
Jesper Dahlback,
Alton Ellis,
Jandek,
Vladislav Delay,
Boz Scaggs,
Ronnie Foster,
Radio Birdman,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
DNA,
Gichy Dan,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
a-ha,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Half Japanese,
The Index,
The Victims,
David McCallum,
LL Cool J,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Trojans,
Rotary Connection,
Fear,
The Moody Blues,
The Standells,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kaleidoscope,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Massinfluence,
Reuben Wilson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bush Tetras,
Public Image Ltd.,
Brothers Johnson,
Television Personalities,
Whodini,
The Fortunes,
The Alarm Clocks,
Laurel Aitken,
Lightning Bolt,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.