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 Senegal and from Beijing.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 Pantaleimon to the techno 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 The Pretty Things. All the underground hits.
All Kaleidoscope tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Half Japanese record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Dennis Brown,
Jimmy McGriff,
Von Mondo,
Roxette,
Bobby Byrd,
Arcadia,
Flash Fearless,
the Human League,
Nick Fraelich,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
John Coltrane,
Reagan Youth,
Suicide,
Unrelated Segments,
The Invisible,
Isaac Hayes,
Aswad,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Nas,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Bill Near,
Adolescents,
Sexual Harrassment,
Donald Byrd,
Black Sheep,
Hasil Adkins,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Durutti Column,
Tres Demented,
Ornette Coleman,
The Skatalites,
The Monochrome Set,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Busters,
Bad Manners,
Heaven 17,
EPMD,
Youth Brigade,
Excepter,
Drive Like Jehu,
Dawn Penn,
Rites of Spring,
Jandek,
Organ,
Pet Shop Boys,
Panda Bear,
Alphaville,
The Human League,
This Heat,
Peter & Gordon,
Public Image Ltd.,
Iggy Pop,
DJ Sneak,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Velvet Underground,
Soft Cell,
Kevin Saunderson,
Quadrant,
Fort Wilson Riot,
U.S. Maple,
Nik Kershaw,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.