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 Algeria and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Toni Rubio to the funk 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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Supertramp,
The Remains,
The Invisible,
Byron Stingily,
Vladislav Delay,
Groovy Waters,
The American Breed,
Rotary Connection,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Barracudas,
PIL,
Howard Jones,
X-101,
Motorama,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Techniques,
Procol Harum,
Brothers Johnson,
Swell Maps,
The Young Rascals,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sugar Minott,
Girls At Our Best!,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Anakelly,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Jandek,
Marcia Griffiths,
Barbara Tucker,
Pierre Henry,
Ken Boothe,
Eric B and Rakim,
Easy Going,
Godley & Creme,
The Mummies,
Soft Machine,
Marshall Jefferson,
Rekid,
Radiopuhelimet,
Harpers Bizarre,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Fire Engines,
Kenny Larkin,
Cybotron,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sound Behaviour,
The Victims,
Spoonie Gee,
Tom Boy,
Ossler,
The Searchers,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Smiths,
Jeff Mills,
The Fugs,
Harmonia,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.