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 Guinea and from Copenhagen.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Rakim to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lucky Dragons record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Red Krayola,
The American Breed,
Camberwell Now,
Simply Red,
Symarip,
Robert Wyatt,
Sister Nancy,
Los Fastidios,
The Five Americans,
Ornette Coleman,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Peter and Kerry,
The Gap Band,
Byron Stingily,
Y Pants,
Lower 48,
Anthony Braxton,
The Index,
Public Image Ltd.,
Eric Copeland,
The Cowsills,
Todd Rundgren,
Bizarre Inc.,
David Axelrod,
Monks,
Echospace,
Pylon,
Niagra,
Alice Coltrane,
The Star Department,
Lungfish,
Lyres,
Interpol,
Davy DMX,
Pantaleimon,
Visage,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Blancmange,
Alton Ellis,
Curtis Mayfield,
Man Parrish,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Little Man,
Scan 7,
Ossler,
Reagan Youth,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Sonny Sharrock,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Searchers,
Bluetip,
Pierre Henry,
Tropical Tobacco,
Max Romeo,
Radiopuhelimet,
John Cale,
Maleditus Sound,
The Knickerbockers,
F. McDonald,
the Bar-Kays,
The Dirtbombs,
L. Decosne,
Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol.
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.