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 Ivory Coast and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Charles Mingus. All the underground hits.
All Soul Sonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Christie,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Alton Ellis,
New York Dolls,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Smog,
Bluetip,
Quantec,
The Durutti Column,
Gil Scott Heron,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Joensuu 1685,
Spoonie Gee,
Siglo XX,
Television Personalities,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Grass Roots,
The Offenders,
Don Cherry,
X-101,
MDC,
Funky Four + One,
The United States of America,
Cluster,
Gang Starr,
John Cale,
Das Ding,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mantronix,
Audionom,
Dennis Brown,
The Associates,
Nick Fraelich,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pet Shop Boys,
AZ,
Accadde A,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Eric Copeland,
Mark Hollis,
MC5,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Marvin Gaye,
Massinfluence,
Dark Day,
Procol Harum,
The Fall,
Fear,
Wings,
Bill Near,
The Knickerbockers,
Boz Scaggs,
Blossom Toes,
The Selecter,
Faust,
Panda Bear,
Robert Görl,
Ultravox,
Deepchord,
Robert Wyatt,
Grey Daturas,
Ten City,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.