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 San Marino and from Delhi.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 clarinet 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 Unrelated Segments to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Gabor Szabo. All the underground hits.
All Henry Cow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eurythmics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Half Japanese,
The Monochrome Set,
Bizarre Inc.,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
K-Klass,
Robert Görl,
Drexciya,
The Electric Prunes,
Trumans Water,
Black Moon,
Wolf Eyes,
MDC,
Suicide,
Minor Threat,
Avey Tare,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Niagra,
Darondo,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Juan Atkins,
Chris & Cosey,
Pet Shop Boys,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Aloha Tigers,
OOIOO,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Traffic Nightmare,
Freddie Wadling,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Albert Ayler,
the Human League,
The Tremeloes,
Index,
Lower 48,
These Immortal Souls,
John Foxx,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Bad Manners,
Kenny Larkin,
Reagan Youth,
8 Eyed Spy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Barclay James Harvest,
Can,
Yusef Lateef,
Supertramp,
James Chance & The Contortions,
John Cale,
Bob Dylan,
Idris Muhammad,
Lucky Dragons,
Pere Ubu,
Grandmaster Flash,
Clear Light,
Eli Mardock,
Depeche Mode,
The Cramps,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.