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 Madagascar 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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Taipei.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Q and Not U to the disco 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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Sarah Menescal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Young Marble Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Joyce Sims,
Deakin,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Liliput,
Oneida,
Joey Negro,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Josef K,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Accadde A,
K-Klass,
Judy Mowatt,
A Certain Ratio,
Flash Fearless,
Toni Rubio,
Lalann,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Laurel Aitken,
Scion,
Sun Ra,
Jeru the Damaja,
Letta Mbulu,
Stereo Dub,
Gong,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Massinfluence,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Walker Brothers,
Altered Images,
Scrapy,
The Gories,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Saints,
the Human League,
ABBA,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Half Japanese,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Excepter,
Mission of Burma,
Susan Cadogan,
Rites of Spring,
The Grass Roots,
Zapp,
Icehouse,
Faust,
Mantronix,
The Mummies,
The Flesh Eaters,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Yusef Lateef,
Steve Hackett,
Johnny Clarke,
Flipper,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Underground Resistance,
Parry Music,
Bush Tetras,
Yaz,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.