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 Kenya and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 harpsichord 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 Traffic Nightmare to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Rites of Spring tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jesper Dahlbäck record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Terrestrial Tones,
Toni Rubio,
The Modern Lovers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Rhythm & Sound,
Agitation Free,
Rufus Thomas,
Von Mondo,
Echospace,
L. Decosne,
Marvin Gaye,
Guru Guru,
Skarface,
The Dave Clark Five,
Girls At Our Best!,
Scientists,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bill Near,
Tom Boy,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Mars,
Rapeman,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Archie Shepp,
The Slits,
Dark Day,
X-Ray Spex,
The Human League,
Arab on Radar,
The Monks,
Fatback Band,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Cal Tjader,
The Standells,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Tomorrow,
Quantec,
The Monochrome Set,
Dawn Penn,
Brothers Johnson,
T. Rex,
Barclay James Harvest,
Metal Thangz,
Gerry Rafferty,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Curtis Mayfield,
Reuben Wilson,
Wire,
The Residents,
CMW,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Mission of Burma,
Avey Tare,
Accadde A,
Danielle Patucci,
Kas Product,
Inner City,
The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds.
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.