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 Macedonia and from Calgary.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 oboe 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 The Techniques to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Parry Music. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roxy Music record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Image Ltd. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eddi Front,
The Index,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Newcleus,
ABC,
48th St. Collective,
Anthony Braxton,
Ossler,
Urselle,
Toni Rubio,
Moebius,
The Associates,
Zero Boys,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Iggy Pop,
Sällskapet,
Duran Duran,
Rosa Yemen,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Black Pus,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ludus,
Robert Hood,
Lalann,
The Red Krayola,
Suburban Knight,
Brand Nubian,
Liliput,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Man Eating Sloth,
kango's stein massive,
Avey Tare,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bill Near,
the Bar-Kays,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Absolute Body Control,
Rekid,
Sun City Girls,
Q and Not U,
New Age Steppers,
The Walker Brothers,
The Busters,
Quando Quango,
Idris Muhammad,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Visage,
The Evens,
Ultimate Spinach,
Roxy Music,
David Bowie,
Aloha Tigers,
Subhumans,
Young Marble Giants,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bronski Beat,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
These Immortal Souls,
X-102,
Steve Hackett,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.