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 Monaco and from Lagos.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Bremen.
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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Names to the grime 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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Little Man record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 Quantec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Görl,
Agent Orange,
The Happenings,
10cc,
Aloha Tigers,
Eurythmics,
Mandrill,
Schoolly D,
UT,
Sandy B,
The Golliwogs,
The United States of America,
Fluxion,
Erasure,
Pussy Galore,
Cymande,
8 Eyed Spy,
Wolf Eyes,
Funkadelic,
Marvin Gaye,
Sun City Girls,
Sixth Finger,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Clear Light,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Alton Ellis,
The Busters,
The Gun Club,
The Walker Brothers,
A Certain Ratio,
The Human League,
These Immortal Souls,
AZ,
Al Stewart,
Ronan,
The Neon Judgement,
The Alarm Clocks,
48th St. Collective,
Lucky Dragons,
Radiopuhelimet,
China Crisis,
Chris & Cosey,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Star Department,
Freddie Wadling,
Kas Product,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Robert Hood,
Kenny Larkin,
The Grass Roots,
Hoover,
Make Up,
The Skatalites,
Skarface,
Sugar Minott,
Dorothy Ashby,
the Human League,
Mary Jane Girls,
Khruangbin,
the Bar-Kays,
a-ha,
Goldenarms,
Roxy Music,
The Victims, The Victims, The Victims, The Victims.
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.