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 Colombia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Eddi Front to the punk 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 Terrestrial Tones. All the underground hits.
All Frankie Knuckles tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Maurizio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun City Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hot Snakes,
The Motions,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Sparks,
Yusef Lateef,
This Heat,
Fear,
Lou Reed,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Soulsonic Force,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Drexciya,
Shoche,
Minutemen,
Grey Daturas,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kerri Chandler,
Flipper,
Con Funk Shun,
The Doobie Brothers,
Pulsallama,
Henry Cow,
Grandmaster Flash,
Soul Sonic Force,
Parry Music,
Monolake,
Neil Young,
Khruangbin,
Angry Samoans,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Anthony Braxton,
Eric Copeland,
Arab on Radar,
Animal Collective,
The Birthday Party,
Alton Ellis,
Erykah Badu,
Simply Red,
Massinfluence,
48th St. Collective,
Bobby Sherman,
The Invisible,
Gabor Szabo,
Black Bananas,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Seeds,
Al Stewart,
Siglo XX,
Susan Cadogan,
The Real Kids,
Fad Gadget,
Roy Ayers,
Cluster,
Chrome,
Liliput,
the Germs,
One Last Wish,
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.