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 Niger and from Taipei.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Quantec to the grime 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 Kango’s Stein Massive. All the underground hits.
All Skarface tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer 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 synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
Boogie Down Productions,
Soft Cell,
Andrew Hill,
The Associates,
The Victims,
Sun Ra,
Camouflage,
Jawbox,
Fort Wilson Riot,
James White and The Blacks,
Los Fastidios,
Easy Going,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Quantec,
The United States of America,
Section 25,
Angry Samoans,
The Techniques,
John Holt,
The Durutti Column,
Kevin Saunderson,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Johnny Clarke,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Agent Orange,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Absolute Body Control,
Infiniti,
Wolf Eyes,
Sällskapet,
Scion,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sun City Girls,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Avey Tare,
The Doobie Brothers,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Symarip,
Ken Boothe,
Depeche Mode,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Grass Roots,
Lou Christie,
Electric Prunes,
Fat Boys,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Flamin' Groovies,
U.S. Maple,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Doors,
Bobby Byrd,
Rotary Connection,
Japan,
Soul II Soul,
a-ha,
the Swans,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Procol Harum,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Mandrill,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell.
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.