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 Tanzania and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Anthony Braxton to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Infiniti. All the underground hits.
All Eli Mardock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kevin Saunderson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mo-Dettes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bush Tetras,
The Count Five,
The Last Poets,
Moby Grape,
Piero Umiliani,
Bill Near,
Scion,
Wire,
Darondo,
Agitation Free,
Fat Boys,
Crash Course in Science,
Donald Byrd,
Little Man,
Dual Sessions,
Soul Sonic Force,
Schoolly D,
LL Cool J,
Minutemen,
The Sound,
Eurythmics,
Cameo,
The Wake,
Silicon Teens,
Young Marble Giants,
10cc,
Cluster,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Mummies,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Byron Stingily,
Erasure,
One Last Wish,
Popol Vuh,
MC5,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cecil Taylor,
The Five Americans,
The Cramps,
Sarah Menescal,
The Music Machine,
Boredoms,
Ituana,
The Invisible,
The Seeds,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kayak,
Robert Hood,
The Skatalites,
Thee Headcoats,
Blake Baxter,
Cal Tjader,
Avey Tare,
Absolute Body Control,
Goldenarms,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Blues Magoos,
Animal Collective,
Jandek,
Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II.
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.