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 Somalia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 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 Khruangbin to the funk 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All Scan 7 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eden Ahbez record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
JFA,
PIL,
Siglo XX,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Residents,
Ultravox,
Joey Negro,
Crooked Eye,
Q65,
R.M.O.,
Eric B and Rakim,
Banda Bassotti,
Kayak,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Jacob Miller,
Morten Harket,
Nick Fraelich,
Con Funk Shun,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Black Flag,
The Wake,
Eli Mardock,
Eden Ahbez,
Fela Kuti,
Reagan Youth,
The Neon Judgement,
Audionom,
The American Breed,
Ronnie Foster,
Theoretical Girls,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Marine Girls,
Marshall Jefferson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Minnie Riperton,
Reuben Wilson,
Drive Like Jehu,
These Immortal Souls,
E-Dancer,
Roy Ayers,
Scientists,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
This Heat,
Slick Rick,
Janne Schatter,
Popol Vuh,
Dave Gahan,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Rhythm & Sound,
Moss Icon,
James White and The Blacks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pierre Henry,
Roxy Music,
Bauhaus,
The Fire Engines,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Vladislav Delay,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.