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 Georgia and from New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Black Sheep to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlbäck tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sad Lovers and Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gong,
Joensuu 1685,
The Cowsills,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Babytalk,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Absolute Body Control,
Qualms,
Robert Hood,
Tres Demented,
Pierre Henry,
Negative Approach,
The Gladiators,
Clear Light,
Dave Gahan,
Rakim,
Joe Smooth,
Bootsy Collins,
The Misunderstood,
John Lydon,
Barrington Levy,
Soft Cell,
Swans,
Scrapy,
Porter Ricks,
The Doors,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Fluxion,
Todd Terry,
The Vogues,
Mission of Burma,
The Moleskins,
JFA,
James White and The Blacks,
Mark Hollis,
Lebanon Hanover,
Throbbing Gristle,
Traffic Nightmare,
Franke,
Bronski Beat,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
One Last Wish,
Dorothy Ashby,
Unrelated Segments,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Fuzztones,
T.S.O.L.,
Cal Tjader,
Maleditus Sound,
Scientists,
The Skatalites,
AZ,
Donny Hathaway,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Five Americans,
Essential Logic,
Technova,
Joe Finger,
Fad Gadget,
The Wake,
The New Christs, The New Christs, The New Christs, The New Christs.
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.