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 Djibouti 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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Evens to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All Blake Baxter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers 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 snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Q and Not U,
The Blackbyrds,
Franke,
Goldenarms,
Newcleus,
Flamin' Groovies,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Rekid,
Robert Hood,
Icehouse,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ken Boothe,
Surgeon,
The Cramps,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Colin Newman,
Tres Demented,
Gang Green,
a-ha,
Scientists,
Alison Limerick,
The Dave Clark Five,
Nils Olav,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Rakim,
Sonny Sharrock,
Neil Young,
Infiniti,
Bobby Sherman,
Wolf Eyes,
Public Enemy,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Angry Samoans,
Skaos,
Ronnie Foster,
Pulsallama,
Isaac Hayes,
Robert Wyatt,
Radiopuhelimet,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bill Near,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Curtis Mayfield,
Charles Mingus,
The Dead C,
Kaleidoscope,
Kas Product,
The Skatalites,
Yusef Lateef,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Moleskins,
Essential Logic,
Johnny Osbourne,
Hardrive,
The Saints,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.