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 Vanuatu and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Eric Dolphy to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Warsaw. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a One Last Wish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
MDC,
Fad Gadget,
Idris Muhammad,
Man Parrish,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Agent Orange,
Tropical Tobacco,
Connie Case,
Theoretical Girls,
Morten Harket,
Wolf Eyes,
John Holt,
Hashim,
R.M.O.,
UT,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Slits,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Stereo Dub,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pagans,
Urselle,
T. Rex,
Skaos,
Ralphi Rosario,
Howard Jones,
One Last Wish,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Bronski Beat,
the Association,
Arcadia,
Zapp,
Letta Mbulu,
The Fire Engines,
Deepchord,
Barry Ungar,
Ituana,
Q and Not U,
The Busters,
Little Man,
Toni Rubio,
Bluetip,
Fatback Band,
Basic Channel,
Bush Tetras,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Con Funk Shun,
Vainqueur,
Chris & Cosey,
Cecil Taylor,
Sugar Minott,
Sight & Sound,
Wings,
Rufus Thomas,
Carl Craig,
Monks,
The Blackbyrds,
Ten City,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.