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 Samoa and from Johannesburg.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
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 Peter & Gordon to the rap 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 Cecil Taylor. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
the Bar-Kays,
Brass Construction,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Happenings,
Wire,
The Move,
Harpers Bizarre,
Camouflage,
Robert Wyatt,
Icehouse,
Kevin Saunderson,
Drexciya,
Jacques Brel,
Radio Birdman,
Fela Kuti,
Maleditus Sound,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sonic Youth,
Eve St. Jones,
Jerry's Kids,
Steve Hackett,
Youth Brigade,
Ituana,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Skatalites,
Sex Pistols,
Yaz,
Royal Trux,
Alice Coltrane,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Jimmy McGriff,
the Sonics,
Saccharine Trust,
Oblivians,
Whodini,
The Five Americans,
Wally Richardson,
Ronnie Foster,
Soft Cell,
The Residents,
Hashim,
Rufus Thomas,
The Blues Magoos,
The Cowsills,
E-Dancer,
Kool Moe Dee,
Eric Copeland,
Symarip,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Subhumans,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
EPMD,
Eric Dolphy,
Lebanon Hanover,
Lightning Bolt,
Alton Ellis,
The Moleskins,
Yellowson,
John Coltrane,
Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani.
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.