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 Mali and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Johnny Osbourne to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Anthony Braxton. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Buzzcocks,
T. Rex,
Grauzone,
The Black Dice,
Carl Craig,
Tomorrow,
Nico,
Technova,
The Count Five,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Angels of Light,
Rhythm & Sound,
Todd Rundgren,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ronnie Foster,
Young Marble Giants,
Fugazi,
Tears for Fears,
Donny Hathaway,
Scan 7,
The Names,
Alphaville,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Litter,
cv313,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Harry Pussy,
U.S. Maple,
Nas,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Gun Club,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Nick Fraelich,
Tommy Roe,
The Five Americans,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jeff Mills,
Lakeside,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sugar Minott,
Robert Wyatt,
New York Dolls,
The Blackbyrds,
the Bar-Kays,
Black Moon,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Gregory Isaacs,
Eli Mardock,
Swell Maps,
Tres Demented,
Ten City,
Cameo,
Dual Sessions,
Kayak,
Cybotron,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Last Poets,
X-Ray Spex,
Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim.
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.