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 Cyprus and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 Leonard Cohen to the dance 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 Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All a-ha tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Angels of Light,
Barrington Levy,
Matthew Halsall,
Nick Fraelich,
Pharoah Sanders,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Pet Shop Boys,
Andrew Hill,
Rapeman,
James White and The Blacks,
The Fire Engines,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Q and Not U,
Supertramp,
Swans,
Loose Ends,
Sällskapet,
10cc,
The Associates,
Magma,
Crash Course in Science,
Colin Newman,
The Young Rascals,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Davy DMX,
T.S.O.L.,
Malaria!,
Bobby Womack,
The Monochrome Set,
The Wake,
Janne Schatter,
Joe Finger,
Saccharine Trust,
Ossler,
Theoretical Girls,
Nation of Ulysses,
Arab on Radar,
Barbara Tucker,
Johnny Clarke,
Second Layer,
Motorama,
Altered Images,
Blake Baxter,
Danielle Patucci,
Minor Threat,
Pulsallama,
Scrapy,
Kayak,
kango's stein massive,
The Techniques,
Eric Dolphy,
Wasted Youth,
Grauzone,
The Names,
Quadrant,
Jerry's Kids,
X-Ray Spex,
Patti Smith,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies.
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.