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 Norway and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Thee Headcoats to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All The Martian tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Selector Dub Narcotic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amon Düül II record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
Goldenarms,
Bill Wells,
The Blackbyrds,
Brothers Johnson,
Joensuu 1685,
Intrusion,
Aural Exciters,
Cameo,
The Residents,
Alison Limerick,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kas Product,
X-Ray Spex,
Grandmaster Flash,
Clear Light,
La Düsseldorf,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Wings,
John Holt,
10cc,
The Gap Band,
Altered Images,
Basic Channel,
Motorama,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sight & Sound,
Throbbing Gristle,
Niagra,
Index,
Donny Hathaway,
Judy Mowatt,
One Last Wish,
The Divine Comedy,
Ponytail,
Half Japanese,
The Selecter,
Althea and Donna,
Susan Cadogan,
Kerri Chandler,
Yellowson,
Alice Coltrane,
kango's stein massive,
Lou Reed,
Cymande,
Donald Byrd,
Nik Kershaw,
Animal Collective,
Fear,
Blake Baxter,
Deadbeat,
Jacques Brel,
The Red Krayola,
EPMD,
A Certain Ratio,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Howard Jones,
Kerrie Biddell,
Soul II Soul,
Black Moon, Black Moon, Black Moon, Black Moon.
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.