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 Moldova and from Bremen.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Cecil Taylor to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All Lafayette Afro Rock Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moby Grape 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 arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Eating Sloth,
Dennis Brown,
The Durutti Column,
Marshall Jefferson,
Glenn Branca,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Smiths,
Ornette Coleman,
Minnie Riperton,
The Busters,
Stereo Dub,
Ludus,
Q65,
Eli Mardock,
Popol Vuh,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sugar Minott,
Lalann,
Chrome,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Trojans,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kurtis Blow,
Public Image Ltd.,
Josef K,
Buzzcocks,
Theoretical Girls,
Freddie Wadling,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Divine Comedy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Fugazi,
Suicide,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Moody Blues,
Rakim,
UT,
Dave Gahan,
Khruangbin,
La Düsseldorf,
Television,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Zeros,
Duran Duran,
Aloha Tigers,
Cymande,
A Certain Ratio,
Quadrant,
Soulsonic Force,
Organ,
The Five Americans,
Q and Not U,
Absolute Body Control,
T.S.O.L.,
Donald Byrd,
The Offenders,
Terry Callier,
The Associates,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Maurizio,
The Monochrome Set,
Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks.
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.