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 Turkmenistan and from Taipei.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 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 Agitation Free to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 New Christs. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlback tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a AZ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masters at Work,
The Kinks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Dual Sessions,
Accadde A,
Lucky Dragons,
Vainqueur,
David Axelrod,
Rakim,
KRS-One,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Smog,
Glenn Branca,
Deadbeat,
The Cowsills,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Fat Boys,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Count Five,
Bang On A Can,
Sparks,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Soul II Soul,
Circle Jerks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pagans,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Parry Music,
Goldenarms,
MDC,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bush Tetras,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Juan Atkins,
ABC,
the Association,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Depeche Mode,
The Fire Engines,
Guru Guru,
Matthew Bourne,
Donny Hathaway,
Crime,
Icehouse,
Bobby Sherman,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Agent Orange,
Black Moon,
Tropical Tobacco,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
A Certain Ratio,
The Skatalites,
L. Decosne,
Skarface, Skarface, Skarface, Skarface.
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.