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 Sri Lanka and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 The Misunderstood to the dance 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 Pantaleimon. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Godley & Creme 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Siglo XX,
Darondo,
Soulsonic Force,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Bang On A Can,
Dark Day,
The Fall,
Kool Moe Dee,
Average White Band,
The Mummies,
Oneida,
The Fire Engines,
The Moleskins,
Sam Rivers,
The Cramps,
Bad Manners,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Gun Club,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Peter & Gordon,
Slave,
Japan,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Matthew Bourne,
Eden Ahbez,
Tomorrow,
Ice-T,
a-ha,
Monks,
Robert Hood,
Drexciya,
Los Fastidios,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gabor Szabo,
Can,
Moss Icon,
The American Breed,
The Velvet Underground,
Black Sheep,
Wings,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Motions,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bill Near,
Agitation Free,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Juan Atkins,
Sarah Menescal,
T. Rex,
Brand Nubian,
Thee Headcoats,
Heaven 17,
Subhumans,
Loose Ends,
Section 25,
The Names, The Names, The Names, The Names.
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.