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 Tuvalu and from Madrid.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Manila.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Dorothy Ashby to the rock 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 The Flesh Eaters. All the underground hits.
All The Move tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slave record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eve St. Jones,
Archie Shepp,
Agent Orange,
Freddie Wadling,
FM Einheit,
Colin Newman,
Jesper Dahlback,
Pussy Galore,
Schoolly D,
Kerrie Biddell,
Pulsallama,
Rapeman,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Slave,
Arthur Verocai,
Subhumans,
The Durutti Column,
Harmonia,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lakeside,
The Grass Roots,
The Smiths,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Aaron Thompson,
Flash Fearless,
Sixth Finger,
Audionom,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
kango's stein massive,
Kerri Chandler,
Basic Channel,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Funkadelic,
Soft Cell,
Chrome,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Index,
The Associates,
Swans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Qualms,
Stiv Bators,
Donald Byrd,
Derrick May,
Fort Wilson Riot,
This Heat,
The Red Krayola,
Hot Snakes,
Absolute Body Control,
The Young Rascals,
Khruangbin,
The Gun Club,
The Monks,
Neu!,
Robert Wyatt,
The American Breed,
Avey Tare,
Stockholm Monsters,
Deepchord,
E-Dancer,
Susan Cadogan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish, Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish, Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish, Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish.
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.