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 India and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 oboe 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 Johnny Osbourne to the rock 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 Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eddi Front record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blues Magoos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
Severed Heads,
Sex Pistols,
Ituana,
Godley & Creme,
Public Enemy,
Neil Young,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
a-ha,
Barry Ungar,
Eli Mardock,
Trumans Water,
Jesper Dahlback,
Eddi Front,
The Blues Magoos,
Rekid,
Khruangbin,
Gichy Dan,
Fugazi,
Pagans,
Royal Trux,
Josef K,
Stereo Dub,
The Cowsills,
Pere Ubu,
Cymande,
Erykah Badu,
The Slits,
Whodini,
Soft Machine,
The Birthday Party,
KRS-One,
The Count Five,
Barclay James Harvest,
Howard Jones,
F. McDonald,
Bauhaus,
Fela Kuti,
Junior Murvin,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The American Breed,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Stooges,
Visage,
Thee Headcoats,
Lucky Dragons,
B.T. Express,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ohio Players,
Faust,
R.M.O.,
Unrelated Segments,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Scratch Acid,
Goldenarms,
Joyce Sims,
The Vogues,
ABBA,
Anthony Braxton,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Saints,
Accadde A,
X-Ray Spex,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.