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 Iraq and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Peter & Gordon to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Spandau Ballet. All the underground hits.
All the Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Don Cherry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alphaville record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sight & Sound,
Big Daddy Kane,
Amon Düül,
Duran Duran,
Fela Kuti,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pagans,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Dead C,
The Pretty Things,
Desert Stars,
Max Romeo,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Aswad,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Moleskins,
Chris Corsano,
Stereo Dub,
The Five Americans,
Mary Jane Girls,
Outsiders,
The Searchers,
Yazoo,
Joy Division,
Sällskapet,
Basic Channel,
Ultimate Spinach,
the Fania All-Stars,
Vladislav Delay,
Moebius,
Main Source,
ABBA,
Country Teasers,
Slave,
Barclay James Harvest,
Visage,
Rosa Yemen,
John Coltrane,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Normal,
Bill Near,
Electric Light Orchestra,
the Association,
Eric Dolphy,
Jacques Brel,
Harry Pussy,
Don Cherry,
The Gun Club,
Lyres,
Eurythmics,
Model 500,
Index,
Todd Terry,
The Saints,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Soft Cell,
The Golliwogs,
Kenny Larkin,
The Sonics,
The Mummies,
The Fortunes,
The Mojo Men,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.