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 Yemen and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Infiniti to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mission of Burma 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ituana,
Radiohead,
Porter Ricks,
Donald Byrd,
Khruangbin,
Josef K,
Robert Hood,
Peter and Kerry,
Soul II Soul,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Patti Smith,
The Cure,
Todd Terry,
The Vogues,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Black Moon,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Terry Callier,
Steve Hackett,
The Walker Brothers,
DJ Sneak,
The Knickerbockers,
The Wake,
Roy Ayers,
Sight & Sound,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Count Five,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Marmalade,
Mars,
FM Einheit,
Alphaville,
Camberwell Now,
Main Source,
Eurythmics,
Magma,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The United States of America,
Eve St. Jones,
Crispy Ambulance,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Velvet Underground,
The Remains,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Wolf Eyes,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Oblivians,
Japan,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Monolake,
Stetsasonic,
Pole,
MDC,
Brass Construction,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tim Buckley,
Mo-Dettes,
Kaleidoscope,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.