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 Cuba and from Mumbai.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Cairo.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sun Ra 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 Althea and Donna. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dawn Penn record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Barracudas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Newcleus,
Fear,
Fatback Band,
Hashim,
The Velvet Underground,
The Five Americans,
Buzzcocks,
Sexual Harrassment,
Wasted Youth,
Ronan,
The Real Kids,
Kool Moe Dee,
Interpol,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Sun Ra,
Boredoms,
Motorama,
Tom Boy,
Glenn Branca,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
B.T. Express,
Unwound,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
ABC,
Crispy Ambulance,
CMW,
Sam Rivers,
Angry Samoans,
Cabaret Voltaire,
KRS-One,
Unrelated Segments,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The J.B.'s,
Bill Near,
Tears for Fears,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Fad Gadget,
The Grass Roots,
Marine Girls,
Robert Wyatt,
The Count Five,
U.S. Maple,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Barrington Levy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Amazonics,
One Last Wish,
The Moody Blues,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Happenings,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Pere Ubu,
Malaria!,
Sight & Sound,
Sun City Girls,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.