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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Toronto.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
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 In Retrospect to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 John Holt. All the underground hits.
All Fluxion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft 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 a güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Parrish,
Ronnie Foster,
Lungfish,
Shoche,
Patti Smith,
Sister Nancy,
Lyres,
Brand Nubian,
The Count Five,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Gabor Szabo,
Flipper,
The Real Kids,
Excepter,
Drive Like Jehu,
Mr. Review,
Todd Rundgren,
Mark Hollis,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Jacques Brel,
Jandek,
Boz Scaggs,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fatback Band,
Underground Resistance,
Schoolly D,
Terry Callier,
Main Source,
Deepchord,
The Wake,
The Mojo Men,
Basic Channel,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Shuggie Otis,
Scott Walker,
The Angels of Light,
Motorama,
The Skatalites,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Robert Hood,
Spandau Ballet,
Scratch Acid,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Bad Manners,
The Smiths,
Dual Sessions,
Harmonia,
Deakin,
Bobby Womack,
Newcleus,
Whodini,
John Cale,
Minutemen,
Jeff Mills,
The Saints,
Quadrant,
Morten Harket,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Thompson Twins,
Skaos,
Groovy Waters,
the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays.
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.