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 Afghanistan and from Manchester.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Litter to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Schoolly D tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ossler,
Nation of Ulysses,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Tres Demented,
Underground Resistance,
The Human League,
Radio Birdman,
Freddie Wadling,
Eric Dolphy,
The Divine Comedy,
Television,
Country Teasers,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Joe Finger,
Brass Construction,
Dual Sessions,
Barry Ungar,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Derrick Morgan,
the Fania All-Stars,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Yusef Lateef,
Jimmy McGriff,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Kas Product,
Steve Hackett,
Monks,
Jandek,
Delta 5,
Lower 48,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Clear Light,
Mo-Dettes,
Deepchord,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Cecil Taylor,
Juan Atkins,
Talk Talk,
Gastr Del Sol,
Lightning Bolt,
Sällskapet,
Robert Wyatt,
Index,
Guru Guru,
H. Thieme,
Thompson Twins,
Q and Not U,
Mission of Burma,
Henry Cow,
The Five Americans,
World's Most,
Sister Nancy,
The Velvet Underground,
Donny Hathaway,
Magazine,
John Coltrane,
This Heat,
Gang Green,
Wasted Youth,
Infiniti,
the Human League,
The Fortunes,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.