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 Russia and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 clarinet 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 Alison Limerick to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Icehouse. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magma record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s 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 Whodini record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Starr,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Animal Collective,
Lou Reed,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Flesh Eaters,
Dave Gahan,
Tim Buckley,
Delta 5,
a-ha,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Essential Logic,
Agent Orange,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Kinks,
Talk Talk,
Byron Stingily,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Faust,
Underground Resistance,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Kool Moe Dee,
Althea and Donna,
Matthew Halsall,
Suicide,
Boredoms,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sam Rivers,
The Pop Group,
ABBA,
Bush Tetras,
Charles Mingus,
the Slits,
Donny Hathaway,
Freddie Wadling,
Godley & Creme,
The Tremeloes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ronnie Foster,
Bill Near,
Mr. Review,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Toni Rubio,
Zapp,
Black Moon,
Soft Cell,
Ponytail,
Quando Quango,
Hoover,
Lebanon Hanover,
Skarface,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gang Green,
Roger Hodgson,
Derrick Morgan,
June of 44,
Soft Machine,
Throbbing Gristle,
the Normal,
Alphaville,
Junior Murvin,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.