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 Somalia and from Jakarta.
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 Seoul and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Spoonie Gee to the rock 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 U.S. Maple. All the underground hits.
All Soul Sonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marmalade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Buzzcocks,
Banda Bassotti,
Basic Channel,
Scan 7,
Porter Ricks,
Qualms,
Roxy Music,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Dead Boys,
Erykah Badu,
Piero Umiliani,
Isaac Hayes,
the Slits,
Tres Demented,
Mission of Burma,
Cecil Taylor,
Crispian St. Peters,
Cheater Slicks,
Howard Jones,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jeff Lynne,
X-Ray Spex,
Pulsallama,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Gabor Szabo,
Depeche Mode,
Tom Boy,
Judy Mowatt,
Au Pairs,
The Gladiators,
Ken Boothe,
Barry Ungar,
Silicon Teens,
Khruangbin,
Schoolly D,
Nation of Ulysses,
Darondo,
Guru Guru,
Robert Görl,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Unwound,
Drive Like Jehu,
Public Enemy,
Minnie Riperton,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Invisible,
Pierre Henry,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Angels of Light,
Motorama,
La Düsseldorf,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Soft Cell,
Average White Band,
Gang of Four,
Mars,
The Fuzztones,
Boredoms,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Intrusion,
The Martian,
Brothers Johnson,
Blake Baxter,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.