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 Ghana and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Bologna.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 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 Gang of Four to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All Sly & The Family Stone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Panda Bear 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
U.S. Maple,
Zapp,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ultra Naté,
The Invisible,
Unwound,
The Tremeloes,
Mandrill,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Zeros,
The Victims,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lalo Schifrin,
Fat Boys,
Sun Ra,
Stetsasonic,
Niagra,
X-101,
Piero Umiliani,
Pulsallama,
Johnny Clarke,
The Leaves,
H. Thieme,
The Offenders,
Aural Exciters,
Kas Product,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
the Association,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nico,
The Sonics,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Kinks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Rufus Thomas,
Jimmy McGriff,
Funkadelic,
Au Pairs,
Absolute Body Control,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Amazonics,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Sound,
Deadbeat,
Malaria!,
The Happenings,
D'Angelo,
Flash Fearless,
Subhumans,
Pet Shop Boys,
Derrick Morgan,
The Dead C,
Television Personalities,
PIL,
Pierre Henry,
Rakim,
Wolf Eyes,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sex Pistols,
Index,
The J.B.'s,
Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth.
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.