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 Cambodia and from Philadelphia.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
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 Basic Channel to the grime 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 Excepter. All the underground hits.
All Sun City Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MDC record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unrelated Segments record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Zapp,
Janne Schatter,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Basic Channel,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Gap Band,
AZ,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Q65,
Swans,
Dennis Brown,
Gichy Dan,
The Blackbyrds,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Cameo,
Gong,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Country Teasers,
Marshall Jefferson,
Royal Trux,
Masters at Work,
The Smoke,
The Golliwogs,
Junior Murvin,
Alton Ellis,
Sonic Youth,
Goldenarms,
Sexual Harrassment,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Chris & Cosey,
Derrick May,
Marine Girls,
Scott Walker,
The Black Dice,
The Leaves,
Curtis Mayfield,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Make Up,
Chrome,
Duran Duran,
Scrapy,
Joe Finger,
The Fugs,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Standells,
The Invisible,
Fad Gadget,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Donny Hathaway,
Heaven 17,
The Blues Magoos,
Tom Boy,
the Slits,
Hot Snakes,
Skaos,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sugar Minott,
Electric Prunes,
CMW, CMW, CMW, CMW.
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.