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 Philippines and from Taipei.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 organ 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 Jimmy McGriff to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All Wire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lungfish,
Charles Mingus,
Mark Hollis,
The Doors,
Todd Terry,
The Star Department,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Das Ding,
Fatback Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nirvana,
Sound Behaviour,
New Age Steppers,
Eric B and Rakim,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Delta 5,
Max Romeo,
Rapeman,
The Grass Roots,
The Evens,
Stockholm Monsters,
the Fania All-Stars,
Con Funk Shun,
Slave,
L. Decosne,
Japan,
Anakelly,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Victims,
Amazonics,
The Real Kids,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Fugs,
H. Thieme,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Grauzone,
Joensuu 1685,
Al Stewart,
Todd Rundgren,
DJ Sneak,
Magma,
The Selecter,
Second Layer,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Velvet Underground,
Lou Christie,
Juan Atkins,
Tubeway Army,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Monks,
Shuggie Otis,
The Toasters,
Susan Cadogan,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kings Of Tomorrow, Kings Of Tomorrow, Kings Of Tomorrow, Kings Of Tomorrow.
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.