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 Niger and from Delhi.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Camouflage to the grunge 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. All the underground hits.
All Thompson Twins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every U.S. Maple record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rosa Yemen,
Amon Düül II,
Niagra,
Crime,
Prince Buster,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eric Copeland,
Minnie Riperton,
Alton Ellis,
Jeru the Damaja,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Donny Hathaway,
John Lydon,
Idris Muhammad,
The Gun Club,
Anakelly,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Star Department,
The American Breed,
Drexciya,
Mandrill,
Deepchord,
Scrapy,
Kenny Larkin,
L. Decosne,
Loose Ends,
Desert Stars,
Visage,
The Fuzztones,
The Barracudas,
Fugazi,
Jeff Lynne,
Lalann,
Pantaleimon,
Heaven 17,
The Grass Roots,
The Fugs,
Moss Icon,
Juan Atkins,
Maleditus Sound,
Dennis Brown,
Sun Ra,
Gichy Dan,
Absolute Body Control,
The Durutti Column,
The Detroit Cobras,
Whodini,
Gil Scott Heron,
Jacques Brel,
E-Dancer,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lakeside,
Basic Channel,
The Martian,
The Smoke,
The Monochrome Set,
The Cowsills,
The Victims,
Slave,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
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.