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 Nauru and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Chrome to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All The Gories tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Main Source record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Visage record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Wire,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Barracudas,
Nation of Ulysses,
H. Thieme,
Yazoo,
Don Cherry,
The Doobie Brothers,
Public Enemy,
Eric Copeland,
Black Moon,
Panda Bear,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Girls At Our Best!,
Masters at Work,
X-101,
Peter & Gordon,
Rakim,
Donald Byrd,
Cecil Taylor,
Swans,
David Bowie,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Pretty Things,
Cheater Slicks,
Leonard Cohen,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Rotary Connection,
Sandy B,
the Germs,
Eric Dolphy,
The Motions,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Cure,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Funky Four + One,
The Durutti Column,
Sixth Finger,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
FM Einheit,
Graham Central Station,
Jacques Brel,
The Toasters,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Marine Girls,
The Gun Club,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Scientists,
The Divine Comedy,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Velvet Underground,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Count Five,
Erasure,
Niagra,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.