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 Zambia and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Piero Umiliani to the rock 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 Kerrie Biddell. All the underground hits.
All Isaac Hayes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Circle Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dave Gahan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Subhumans,
Andrew Hill,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Darondo,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Half Japanese,
Cheater Slicks,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Count Five,
The Slackers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Eddi Front,
Outsiders,
Cal Tjader,
Roxette,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Stiv Bators,
Main Source,
David Bowie,
Eden Ahbez,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Gang Starr,
Khruangbin,
Arcadia,
Crispian St. Peters,
Danielle Patucci,
L. Decosne,
Moebius,
The Misunderstood,
Guru Guru,
Anthony Braxton,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Sonics,
Pharoah Sanders,
Robert Wyatt,
Grey Daturas,
New York Dolls,
Unrelated Segments,
Bill Near,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Accadde A,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ken Boothe,
Donald Byrd,
T. Rex,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Amon Düül,
Mission of Burma,
Lucky Dragons,
Idris Muhammad,
Graham Central Station,
Groovy Waters,
Pantytec,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Alison Limerick,
the Human League,
Cluster,
Shoche,
Mark Hollis,
Model 500,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T.
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.