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 Tunisia and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Johannesburg.
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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lyres to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Invisible. All the underground hits.
All Neu! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Halsall 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlback record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Amazonics,
Stockholm Monsters,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ice-T,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Arcadia,
Max Romeo,
Crispian St. Peters,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Goldenarms,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Martian,
Khruangbin,
Panda Bear,
Visage,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Bar-Kays,
The Gun Club,
Model 500,
Bobby Womack,
John Coltrane,
Scratch Acid,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Skatalites,
Crooked Eye,
The Last Poets,
ABC,
The Saints,
PIL,
Gong,
Gabor Szabo,
Radiopuhelimet,
Parry Music,
Lalo Schifrin,
Japan,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Red Krayola,
Nils Olav,
Organ,
The Raincoats,
10cc,
Bluetip,
Subhumans,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Malaria!,
Nas,
Mandrill,
The Count Five,
Glenn Branca,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
China Crisis,
Prince Buster,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Wally Richardson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Modern Lovers,
Jerry's Kids,
Kaleidoscope,
Gang Green,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.