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 Iraq and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap to the grime 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 Silicon Teens. All the underground hits.
All Connie Case tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aaron Thompson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vainqueur record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Davy DMX,
Swans,
Electric Light Orchestra,
John Coltrane,
The Litter,
Talk Talk,
Black Sheep,
X-102,
The Moleskins,
Robert Görl,
New York Dolls,
Alton Ellis,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Fugazi,
Crooked Eye,
The Golliwogs,
The Associates,
Von Mondo,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Joyce Sims,
Nation of Ulysses,
Scion,
Jawbox,
Cluster,
Eric Copeland,
Man Parrish,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
These Immortal Souls,
Aloha Tigers,
H. Thieme,
The Monochrome Set,
Hoover,
The Raincoats,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Eddi Front,
Kurtis Blow,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bluetip,
Neil Young,
Lungfish,
Spandau Ballet,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Traffic Nightmare,
Average White Band,
Ponytail,
ABC,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Mary Jane Girls,
Nico,
E-Dancer,
The Moody Blues,
Mark Hollis,
Japan,
Lou Christie,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Barbara Tucker,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Deakin,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.