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 Cameroon and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Nile Rodgers 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 L. Decosne to the dance 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 Byron Stingily. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
Nirvana,
Ronan,
Technova,
Connie Case,
Peter & Gordon,
Simply Red,
The Velvet Underground,
Barry Ungar,
Ponytail,
Dead Boys,
Max Romeo,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Iggy Pop,
Amon Düül II,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
KRS-One,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Stooges,
Stockholm Monsters,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Arcadia,
Zero Boys,
Symarip,
Youth Brigade,
John Foxx,
Soulsonic Force,
June of 44,
Jandek,
Mad Mike,
Howard Jones,
The J.B.'s,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Busters,
The Misunderstood,
Circle Jerks,
Sugar Minott,
Ossler,
The Gladiators,
Banda Bassotti,
Man Parrish,
June Days,
The Moleskins,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Agent Orange,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Detroit Cobras,
Fluxion,
Marmalade,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Harpers Bizarre,
Pole,
China Crisis,
The Pretty Things,
Matthew Halsall,
Pantytec,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars.
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.