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 Ukraine and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 sitar 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 Royal Trux to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Ornette Coleman. All the underground hits.
All Guru Guru tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
Man Eating Sloth,
Electric Prunes,
Desert Stars,
Urselle,
The Monochrome Set,
Joey Negro,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Camberwell Now,
Cluster,
Fat Boys,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Misunderstood,
The Star Department,
A Certain Ratio,
Camouflage,
Zapp,
Cal Tjader,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Nico,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
48th St. Collective,
Flash Fearless,
D'Angelo,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Half Japanese,
The Slackers,
The Sound,
Curtis Mayfield,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
One Last Wish,
Rosa Yemen,
The Associates,
Judy Mowatt,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Quantec,
The Doobie Brothers,
Robert Wyatt,
Newcleus,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Black Sheep,
Ossler,
DJ Style,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Fortunes,
The Durutti Column,
Pere Ubu,
Robert Görl,
Eric Copeland,
Icehouse,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Smiths,
Masters at Work, Masters at Work, Masters at Work, Masters at Work.
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.