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 Laos and from Madrid.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 mellotron 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 Rakim to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Rapeman. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Von Mondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a H. Thieme record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
Gang of Four,
The J.B.'s,
The Sound,
Country Teasers,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rhythm & Sound,
Half Japanese,
Schoolly D,
The Tremeloes,
the Association,
Boredoms,
Quando Quango,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
A Certain Ratio,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Throbbing Gristle,
Boogie Down Productions,
Laurel Aitken,
Byron Stingily,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Soulsonic Force,
Cal Tjader,
June Days,
Visage,
The Moody Blues,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Alton Ellis,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Five Americans,
Trumans Water,
X-Ray Spex,
Magazine,
Arcadia,
Gabor Szabo,
Erykah Badu,
Inner City,
the Slits,
Andrew Hill,
Harmonia,
The Grass Roots,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lightning Bolt,
Tommy Roe,
Average White Band,
Ponytail,
The Gories,
Drexciya,
Flash Fearless,
The Real Kids,
Kevin Saunderson,
T.S.O.L.,
Roger Hodgson,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Lou Reed,
China Crisis,
Yaz,
The Detroit Cobras,
Rekid,
The Slits,
Accadde A,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants.
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.