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 Suriname and from Stockholm.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
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 Faust to the grunge 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 Anthony Braxton. All the underground hits.
All Outsiders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every KRS-One 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 '50s 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Davy DMX,
Patti Smith,
Albert Ayler,
Yusef Lateef,
The Moleskins,
Barbara Tucker,
Sonic Youth,
The Stooges,
The Cowsills,
Make Up,
Echospace,
Animal Collective,
The Gladiators,
Fad Gadget,
Jeff Mills,
The Electric Prunes,
Ronnie Foster,
John Cale,
Grandmaster Flash,
Clear Light,
Crispy Ambulance,
Michelle Simonal,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Darondo,
Lebanon Hanover,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Young Rascals,
Dawn Penn,
Glenn Branca,
Ohio Players,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Erykah Badu,
Easy Going,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Gun Club,
Public Image Ltd.,
Camouflage,
T.S.O.L.,
Grey Daturas,
The Real Kids,
Black Pus,
Fluxion,
Black Bananas,
E-Dancer,
Tomorrow,
Rakim,
Liliput,
Cecil Taylor,
Delta 5,
Brass Construction,
The Slits,
Agitation Free,
Eli Mardock,
Wasted Youth,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Marshall Jefferson,
Nils Olav,
Banda Bassotti,
MDC,
the Swans,
Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion.
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.