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 Suriname and from Winnipeg.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Oppenheimer Analysis to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The American Breed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bang On A Can,
Fluxion,
DNA,
Basic Channel,
Thompson Twins,
Accadde A,
Vainqueur,
Groovy Waters,
Ice-T,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Joensuu 1685,
Second Layer,
Newcleus,
Terry Callier,
Susan Cadogan,
The Litter,
Radio Birdman,
The Misunderstood,
T.S.O.L.,
Leonard Cohen,
Aaron Thompson,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bill Wells,
Piero Umiliani,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Siglo XX,
Stereo Dub,
DJ Sneak,
Josef K,
Public Enemy,
Cluster,
Scan 7,
Sound Behaviour,
Fat Boys,
Archie Shepp,
Terrestrial Tones,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Move,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Electric Prunes,
Technova,
Cecil Taylor,
The Blues Magoos,
Deadbeat,
Deakin,
Blossom Toes,
Khruangbin,
The Star Department,
Franke,
Masters at Work,
Todd Rundgren,
The Fire Engines,
Los Fastidios,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Rosa Yemen,
The Evens,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.