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 Gambia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Don Cherry to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Fatback Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agent Orange record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
48th St. Collective,
Aloha Tigers,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Funky Four + One,
Bush Tetras,
Lalo Schifrin,
Symarip,
The Slits,
Sister Nancy,
The Victims,
Jandek,
Wings,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Camberwell Now,
X-102,
JFA,
The Smoke,
Thee Headcoats,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Crispy Ambulance,
Audionom,
Country Teasers,
Scion,
Kaleidoscope,
World's Most,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Sonics,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Darondo,
Henry Cow,
Jerry's Kids,
Iggy Pop,
Electric Prunes,
Tres Demented,
The Red Krayola,
Wally Richardson,
FM Einheit,
Second Layer,
Girls At Our Best!,
ABBA,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sun City Girls,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Junior Murvin,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Soul II Soul,
Maleditus Sound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lalann,
Aural Exciters,
DNA,
Von Mondo,
Boredoms,
Derrick May,
Erykah Badu,
Albert Ayler,
Donny Hathaway,
DJ Style,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.