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 Austria and from Lyon.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Yellowson to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brass Construction record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Soul II Soul,
Saccharine Trust,
Maurizio,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ituana,
This Heat,
Sonny Sharrock,
Essential Logic,
Yellowson,
Reuben Wilson,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Cure,
Big Daddy Kane,
Heaven 17,
The Smiths,
Stereo Dub,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Saints,
Crooked Eye,
Graham Central Station,
Bang On A Can,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Minny Pops,
Kurtis Blow,
The Happenings,
Trumans Water,
Wasted Youth,
Radiohead,
The Dirtbombs,
Thee Headcoats,
The Gories,
Connie Case,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Smog,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Judy Mowatt,
The Skatalites,
Excepter,
Neil Young,
The Modern Lovers,
David Bowie,
Curtis Mayfield,
Oneida,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Porter Ricks,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gichy Dan,
Soulsonic Force,
Chris & Cosey,
Juan Atkins,
Reagan Youth,
The Vogues,
Sun City Girls,
Spandau Ballet,
The Standells,
Jacques Brel,
The Wake,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.