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 Yemen 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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Jeff Lynne to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Cecil Taylor. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Mills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 theremin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
The Monks,
Essential Logic,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Freddie Wadling,
Bang On A Can,
Curtis Mayfield,
Dawn Penn,
the Slits,
Animal Collective,
10cc,
Tim Buckley,
Easy Going,
The Fire Engines,
KRS-One,
Yazoo,
DJ Sneak,
Lou Christie,
The Stooges,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bad Manners,
Pylon,
Brass Construction,
Cameo,
Kayak,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lower 48,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Lungfish,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pagans,
LL Cool J,
Todd Terry,
Dead Boys,
The Raincoats,
Organ,
Outsiders,
The Tremeloes,
Alton Ellis,
Terry Callier,
The Fugs,
Hasil Adkins,
The Velvet Underground,
The Sonics,
Fat Boys,
Joensuu 1685,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Kaleidoscope,
The Happenings,
Grey Daturas,
Lyres,
Reuben Wilson,
UT,
Thee Headcoats,
X-101,
Joey Negro,
Hot Snakes,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Angels of Light,
The Misunderstood,
Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection.
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.