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 Kosovo and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Houston.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The United States of America to the jazz 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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All The Grass Roots tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barrington Levy 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tubeway Army record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Saints,
Alton Ellis,
Carl Craig,
Piero Umiliani,
Charles Mingus,
The Red Krayola,
A Certain Ratio,
Big Daddy Kane,
Theoretical Girls,
Gang of Four,
Panda Bear,
Dorothy Ashby,
Jacob Miller,
Goldenarms,
Godley & Creme,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Rites of Spring,
David Bowie,
Blake Baxter,
Desert Stars,
Electric Prunes,
The Monochrome Set,
Duran Duran,
The Monks,
Accadde A,
Make Up,
Marine Girls,
Jesper Dahlback,
Chris & Cosey,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Scan 7,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Shoche,
Basic Channel,
Absolute Body Control,
Davy DMX,
Delta 5,
Sight & Sound,
Can,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Slackers,
Unrelated Segments,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Crooked Eye,
Parry Music,
Minny Pops,
Juan Atkins,
Brass Construction,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Gladiators,
KRS-One,
Oneida,
The Real Kids,
Sun City Girls,
Radiopuhelimet,
Arab on Radar,
Icehouse,
The Knickerbockers,
Pole,
Suicide,
Dennis Brown,
Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios.
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.