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 Morocco and from Sao Paulo.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Simply Red to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Yazoo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Anakelly record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Copeland,
Average White Band,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lower 48,
Danielle Patucci,
the Slits,
Ohio Players,
Derrick Morgan,
Radiopuhelimet,
Trumans Water,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
T. Rex,
Lalann,
Scratch Acid,
Organ,
Aswad,
Joe Finger,
Bang On A Can,
Bluetip,
Roxy Music,
Terry Callier,
Lalo Schifrin,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Modern Lovers,
Cluster,
Mo-Dettes,
Deakin,
Deadbeat,
Fear,
The Sound,
the Bar-Kays,
Bad Manners,
Mad Mike,
Malaria!,
Scott Walker,
Leonard Cohen,
Bobby Sherman,
The Real Kids,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Stooges,
Easy Going,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Monks,
Banda Bassotti,
Mark Hollis,
the Association,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Colin Newman,
Tommy Roe,
Delta 5,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Mary Jane Girls,
Heaven 17,
Oblivians,
Robert Wyatt,
The Move,
Schoolly D,
The Slits,
The Busters,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cymande,
Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick.
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.