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 Uzbekistan and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Neil Young & Crazy Horse tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faraquet 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deakin,
Ornette Coleman,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Aaron Thompson,
X-102,
Sun City Girls,
Bluetip,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Byron Stingily,
Erykah Badu,
Electric Prunes,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Peter and Kerry,
Eddi Front,
The Neon Judgement,
Average White Band,
The Smiths,
Don Cherry,
Youth Brigade,
Altered Images,
Gastr Del Sol,
Absolute Body Control,
Shuggie Otis,
Skriet,
The Shadows of Knight,
Grey Daturas,
Maleditus Sound,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Monks,
Pussy Galore,
Vladislav Delay,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Soft Cell,
Sun Ra,
Minny Pops,
John Foxx,
Rekid,
China Crisis,
Neil Young,
The Smoke,
Minor Threat,
Fela Kuti,
Robert Wyatt,
Japan,
Bang On A Can,
Hoover,
The Pop Group,
The Selecter,
Piero Umiliani,
Donald Byrd,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
One Last Wish,
Soul II Soul,
Audionom,
Underground Resistance,
Reagan Youth,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Interpol,
June of 44,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
the Normal,
The Mummies,
Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood.
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.