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 Botswana and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Mumbai.
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 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 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 Average White Band to the grime 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 Supertramp. All the underground hits.
All The Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heaven 17 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
Japan,
The Raincoats,
Pantytec,
Sonny Sharrock,
Nils Olav,
Suicide,
Todd Rundgren,
Camberwell Now,
Soft Machine,
Scientists,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Techniques,
Soft Cell,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Dead C,
Talk Talk,
Skriet,
Chris Corsano,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Young Rascals,
The Slackers,
Sex Pistols,
Schoolly D,
Matthew Halsall,
Slick Rick,
Ossler,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Colin Newman,
The Wake,
Adolescents,
Janne Schatter,
Clear Light,
Sister Nancy,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
MDC,
The Remains,
Al Stewart,
Angry Samoans,
The Walker Brothers,
Scrapy,
Popol Vuh,
Neu!,
E-Dancer,
Anthony Braxton,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kerrie Biddell,
Brass Construction,
Guru Guru,
Parry Music,
Gang Green,
Dead Boys,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Banda Bassotti,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Skarface,
Grauzone,
Max Romeo,
Crooked Eye,
Joyce Sims,
Marvin Gaye,
Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics.
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.