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 East Timor and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 chamberlin 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 Soulsonic Force to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Moebius. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doors,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Tubeway Army,
Electric Prunes,
The Residents,
Jandek,
The Raincoats,
Bill Wells,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Scion,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Suburban Knight,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Theoretical Girls,
Dorothy Ashby,
Thompson Twins,
The Motions,
Chris Corsano,
Jeru the Damaja,
New Order,
The American Breed,
ABBA,
H. Thieme,
Tomorrow,
Khruangbin,
Duran Duran,
Dawn Penn,
KRS-One,
Nick Fraelich,
Sonny Sharrock,
Moebius,
MDC,
Bobby Sherman,
Brass Construction,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Radiohead,
Harpers Bizarre,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Swell Maps,
Sly & The Family Stone,
UT,
a-ha,
Idris Muhammad,
The Modern Lovers,
Jeff Lynne,
Rod Modell,
Dennis Brown,
Tropical Tobacco,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Make Up,
Flash Fearless,
Sex Pistols,
Byron Stingily,
Howard Jones,
Hot Snakes,
DJ Style,
The Monochrome Set,
the Swans,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Soulsonic Force,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.