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 St Lucia and from Lagos.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Godley & Creme. All the underground hits.
All Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Starr record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s 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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Zeros,
Jacob Miller,
The Martian,
Iggy Pop,
Soul II Soul,
Pere Ubu,
A Certain Ratio,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Ossler,
Minor Threat,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Brand Nubian,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Roy Ayers,
Andrew Hill,
Can,
The Smoke,
JFA,
Vladislav Delay,
Accadde A,
Rites of Spring,
Q65,
Sarah Menescal,
Crime,
Donny Hathaway,
Angry Samoans,
The Misunderstood,
Fat Boys,
Marine Girls,
Radiohead,
Unrelated Segments,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bobby Sherman,
Mad Mike,
DNA,
Letta Mbulu,
Stereo Dub,
Reagan Youth,
Black Bananas,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Animal Collective,
Chris & Cosey,
The Stooges,
Kool Moe Dee,
Camberwell Now,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Skarface,
Connie Case,
Pantaleimon,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Duran Duran,
Rosa Yemen,
Franke,
The Angels of Light,
Yellowson,
In Retrospect,
The Moody Blues,
Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685.
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.