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 Gambia and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Urselle. All the underground hits.
All The Zeros tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neil Young record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Cluster,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Gladiators,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Funky Four + One,
Oblivians,
Eric Dolphy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Fluxion,
Aural Exciters,
Heaven 17,
Camouflage,
The Walker Brothers,
B.T. Express,
Gang Starr,
Moby Grape,
Isaac Hayes,
Ossler,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Animal Collective,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nation of Ulysses,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Spoonie Gee,
Malaria!,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Anakelly,
The J.B.'s,
The Busters,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Gichy Dan,
Chrome,
Camberwell Now,
Jacob Miller,
Gang of Four,
Harry Pussy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Youth Brigade,
Con Funk Shun,
Wings,
Chris Corsano,
The Real Kids,
Yaz,
Ten City,
The Smoke,
Television Personalities,
The Gap Band,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Fall,
Joy Division,
Barrington Levy,
Slave,
Urselle,
Susan Cadogan,
Frankie Knuckles,
Cybotron,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Excepter,
Suicide,
Loose Ends,
Harmonia,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.