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 Fiji and from Columbus.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 David Bowie 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 Soft Cell 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 Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Gary Puckett & The Union Gap tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna 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?
Barclay James Harvest,
Jesper Dahlback,
Roxy Music,
Patti Smith,
Lalo Schifrin,
Camouflage,
Scion,
China Crisis,
Crispian St. Peters,
Todd Rundgren,
Make Up,
Angry Samoans,
The Associates,
The Seeds,
Moby Grape,
KRS-One,
Amon Düül II,
the Slits,
Supertramp,
World's Most,
Kurtis Blow,
Index,
A Flock of Seagulls,
David Bowie,
Warsaw,
Whodini,
The Neon Judgement,
Hardrive,
a-ha,
Toni Rubio,
Barbara Tucker,
The Evens,
Sister Nancy,
The Offenders,
The Zeros,
Shoche,
Amon Düül,
New York Dolls,
Sonic Youth,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Unwound,
Surgeon,
Marcia Griffiths,
Pole,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Cowsills,
K-Klass,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
MDC,
Nas,
Pulsallama,
Jerry's Kids,
Radio Birdman,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ohio Players,
The Five Americans,
Nils Olav,
Vainqueur,
Glambeats Corp.,
Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants.
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.