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 Australia and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Donald Fagen 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 Adolescents to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Gang Starr. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stiv Bators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ohio Players,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Desert Stars,
The Invisible,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
In Retrospect,
The J.B.'s,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Unrelated Segments,
Stereo Dub,
Animal Collective,
Arcadia,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Slits,
Trumans Water,
Eric Dolphy,
Barrington Levy,
JFA,
Gil Scott Heron,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Q and Not U,
Sonic Youth,
the Germs,
Harmonia,
Scientists,
Pulsallama,
Alison Limerick,
cv313,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bill Wells,
Hot Snakes,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Offenders,
The Techniques,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Alice Coltrane,
Johnny Osbourne,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lindisfarne,
Ultra Naté,
Camberwell Now,
Brick,
The Zeros,
Ronnie Foster,
Henry Cow,
the Slits,
Bad Manners,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Avey Tare,
The Associates,
Traffic Nightmare,
Minnie Riperton,
Tommy Roe,
The Busters,
Spoonie Gee,
Youth Brigade,
The Dead C,
Lucky Dragons,
Erasure,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ludus,
Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth.
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.