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 Grenada and from Accra.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Minutemen to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bill Wells. All the underground hits.
All Television tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quadrant 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?
Supertramp,
cv313,
Crispian St. Peters,
Eve St. Jones,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Cameo,
Letta Mbulu,
Robert Wyatt,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ten City,
Technova,
Kaleidoscope,
Kurtis Blow,
Suicide,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Fugs,
Pulsallama,
Circle Jerks,
Tom Boy,
The Fortunes,
Brick,
the Sonics,
Little Man,
June of 44,
X-Ray Spex,
Peter and Kerry,
Rites of Spring,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Duran Duran,
Derrick May,
Guru Guru,
Maurizio,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Stockholm Monsters,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Real Kids,
Gil Scott Heron,
Minny Pops,
The Seeds,
Ossler,
Ornette Coleman,
LL Cool J,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Porter Ricks,
Flipper,
Echospace,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Joey Negro,
Pole,
Theoretical Girls,
Black Sheep,
Godley & Creme,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lyres,
Parry Music,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Surgeon,
The Remains,
Procol Harum,
Fugazi,
Bad Manners,
Banda Bassotti,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.