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 Burkina and from Tehran.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
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 Quando Quango to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gastr Del Sol. All the underground hits.
All Black Flag tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Colin Newman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Anthony Braxton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arcadia,
Sixth Finger,
Albert Ayler,
Quando Quango,
Spandau Ballet,
The Electric Prunes,
Avey Tare,
Radiohead,
The Names,
Suicide,
Moebius,
Matthew Bourne,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Godley & Creme,
Visage,
Severed Heads,
Magazine,
Man Parrish,
The Fortunes,
Morten Harket,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Robert Hood,
Television Personalities,
K-Klass,
The Fuzztones,
Jeff Lynne,
A Certain Ratio,
The Offenders,
The Detroit Cobras,
Glenn Branca,
Dennis Brown,
JFA,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Nico,
Hoover,
the Bar-Kays,
Make Up,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Trojans,
UT,
Circle Jerks,
D'Angelo,
David Bowie,
One Last Wish,
Eric Dolphy,
Mary Jane Girls,
Banda Bassotti,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Black Sheep,
Amazonics,
The Slits,
Flipper,
Patti Smith,
The Fire Engines,
Sun Ra,
Peter and Kerry,
Franke,
Tomorrow,
Electric Prunes,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sound Behaviour,
Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can.
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.