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 Greece and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manila.
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 Ash Ra Tempel to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Tremeloes. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donny Hathaway record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Japan,
Sister Nancy,
Easy Going,
David Axelrod,
Sonic Youth,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
K-Klass,
Aswad,
Amazonics,
Johnny Osbourne,
Q and Not U,
Main Source,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
New Order,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
8 Eyed Spy,
Glambeats Corp.,
Hasil Adkins,
Adolescents,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nik Kershaw,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Boredoms,
The Slackers,
Wasted Youth,
Accadde A,
Au Pairs,
kango's stein massive,
Sarah Menescal,
Prince Buster,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Mo-Dettes,
The Names,
Eric B and Rakim,
Soul Sonic Force,
Qualms,
Porter Ricks,
Can,
Nation of Ulysses,
David McCallum,
Roxette,
Alphaville,
Leonard Cohen,
The Doors,
Duran Duran,
Hot Snakes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Scientists,
Buzzcocks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Animal Collective,
Stockholm Monsters,
Procol Harum,
Barrington Levy,
Ituana,
The Smoke,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
These Immortal Souls,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jerry's Kids,
Excepter,
Camberwell Now,
Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments.
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.