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 Egypt and from Bologna.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Jimmy McGriff to the punk 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 Flamin' Groovies. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delta 5,
Kaleidoscope,
Buzzcocks,
Groovy Waters,
Sandy B,
Anthony Braxton,
The Red Krayola,
Al Stewart,
The Last Poets,
Los Fastidios,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Excepter,
The Gories,
Derrick May,
Soul Sonic Force,
LL Cool J,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sugar Minott,
Soft Machine,
Ten City,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jeff Lynne,
Crooked Eye,
Rhythm & Sound,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Stereo Dub,
Fela Kuti,
The Invisible,
Ralphi Rosario,
Black Moon,
Pet Shop Boys,
Kayak,
Clear Light,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Wally Richardson,
Bronski Beat,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Magazine,
Drexciya,
Talk Talk,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Albert Ayler,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Camberwell Now,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Young Rascals,
Average White Band,
Pulsallama,
the Fania All-Stars,
Joyce Sims,
Todd Rundgren,
Essential Logic,
Theoretical Girls,
The Toasters,
Moby Grape,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Michelle Simonal,
Infiniti,
Yaz,
Pagans,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.