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 Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Spandau Ballet to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Interpol record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Urselle,
Liliput,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Glenn Branca,
New Age Steppers,
Lee Hazlewood,
Minnie Riperton,
Deakin,
Aural Exciters,
Marine Girls,
Flamin' Groovies,
Man Parrish,
The Grass Roots,
Rapeman,
Althea and Donna,
The Birthday Party,
Lower 48,
Max Romeo,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Supertramp,
Wolf Eyes,
A Certain Ratio,
Eden Ahbez,
Television Personalities,
Leonard Cohen,
Arab on Radar,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Terry Callier,
Motorama,
Brothers Johnson,
The Music Machine,
Lou Reed,
The Associates,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Harry Pussy,
Funkadelic,
Barry Ungar,
Make Up,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Skaos,
Marcia Griffiths,
Howard Jones,
Flash Fearless,
Parry Music,
Organ,
Qualms,
The Star Department,
a-ha,
Moss Icon,
Curtis Mayfield,
Iggy Pop,
Outsiders,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Rotary Connection,
Index,
FM Einheit,
Crispy Ambulance,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Chrome,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays.
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.