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 Oman and from Accra.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the oboe 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 Agent Orange to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 the Swans. All the underground hits.
All Maurizio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Colin Newman 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jesper Dahlback,
The Angels of Light,
Terrestrial Tones,
Shoche,
Gang of Four,
Jawbox,
Lou Christie,
Sandy B,
Michelle Simonal,
Black Bananas,
Matthew Bourne,
Yellowson,
Symarip,
The Offenders,
Faraquet,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Jeff Lynne,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bluetip,
Echospace,
John Lydon,
Letta Mbulu,
Terry Callier,
Marmalade,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Joyce Sims,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bobby Byrd,
Sex Pistols,
World's Most,
Judy Mowatt,
Rapeman,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Dennis Brown,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pylon,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sight & Sound,
Spoonie Gee,
Das Ding,
Ten City,
the Slits,
Blossom Toes,
Hashim,
Neu!,
Banda Bassotti,
Newcleus,
Angry Samoans,
The Residents,
Schoolly D,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Music Machine,
Soft Cell,
Eli Mardock,
The Blues Magoos,
In Retrospect,
Marine Girls,
Al Stewart,
48th St. Collective,
Moss Icon,
Bill Near,
Throbbing Gristle,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.