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 Gambia and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry to the grunge 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 Kayak. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Blake Baxter,
Dual Sessions,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Fortunes,
Eli Mardock,
Ituana,
The Red Krayola,
Electric Prunes,
Sexual Harrassment,
Technova,
World's Most,
X-101,
Cluster,
Porter Ricks,
D'Angelo,
Bang On A Can,
Khruangbin,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Invisible,
Suicide,
Pulsallama,
The Pop Group,
Fluxion,
Danielle Patucci,
Circle Jerks,
Fugazi,
Liliput,
Altered Images,
John Cale,
Severed Heads,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Misunderstood,
Pet Shop Boys,
Neu!,
Ludus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
MC5,
Echospace,
Japan,
Bauhaus,
Dead Boys,
Oblivians,
Fad Gadget,
Barry Ungar,
Bobby Sherman,
Roger Hodgson,
Eden Ahbez,
a-ha,
The Cramps,
Cecil Taylor,
Donald Byrd,
Rosa Yemen,
June of 44,
Skaos,
The Black Dice,
Donny Hathaway,
The Doors,
L. Decosne,
Skriet,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.