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 Kenya and from Manchester.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South 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 Bluetip to the jazz 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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All E-Dancer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Duran Duran record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalo Schifrin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Fluxion,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Grass Roots,
KRS-One,
Roy Ayers,
Rotary Connection,
Cecil Taylor,
Sixth Finger,
Eve St. Jones,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Byron Stingily,
Sarah Menescal,
The American Breed,
Colin Newman,
The Offenders,
Peter & Gordon,
Grauzone,
Alton Ellis,
The Smiths,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Trojans,
Neu!,
B.T. Express,
The Velvet Underground,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Young Rascals,
Deepchord,
Bang On A Can,
Sam Rivers,
Howard Jones,
X-102,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Fugs,
Sparks,
Morten Harket,
The Moleskins,
Pole,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Man Parrish,
FM Einheit,
Crispian St. Peters,
June of 44,
Pere Ubu,
Matthew Halsall,
Liliput,
48th St. Collective,
Index,
the Sonics,
The Evens,
Oneida,
Soul II Soul,
Todd Terry,
The Tremeloes,
The Associates,
Joy Division,
Sight & Sound,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Faraquet,
The Index,
Quando Quango,
Idris Muhammad,
Todd Rundgren,
H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme.
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.