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 Albania and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Donald Fagen 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 Marc Almond to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Alison Limerick. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kaleidoscope record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Happenings record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
Brass Construction,
Groovy Waters,
Flipper,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Curtis Mayfield,
FM Einheit,
Lee Hazlewood,
Pylon,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Charles Mingus,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Mars,
The Residents,
The Real Kids,
The United States of America,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Misunderstood,
Accadde A,
Whodini,
Terry Callier,
D'Angelo,
a-ha,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Fuzztones,
This Heat,
Rekid,
Qualms,
Crash Course in Science,
Robert Wyatt,
Amazonics,
Gang Green,
Talk Talk,
Ralphi Rosario,
Flash Fearless,
Faust,
Rufus Thomas,
Los Fastidios,
The Velvet Underground,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Marc Almond,
Excepter,
Pulsallama,
Monolake,
Sight & Sound,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Blossom Toes,
Ornette Coleman,
Sandy B,
Deakin,
Malaria!,
Toni Rubio,
The Index,
Average White Band,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Offenders,
Angry Samoans,
Spandau Ballet,
The Mojo Men,
E-Dancer,
48th St. Collective,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.