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 Sweden and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
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 Steve Hackett to the rap 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 The Raincoats. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Malaria! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brass Construction,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Neil Young,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Invisible,
Yaz,
Icehouse,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Shuggie Otis,
AZ,
Neu!,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jeff Lynne,
Freddie Wadling,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Real Kids,
CMW,
Donald Byrd,
The Leaves,
Thompson Twins,
R.M.O.,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Joe Smooth,
The Five Americans,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Pretty Things,
Moby Grape,
Erykah Badu,
a-ha,
Graham Central Station,
Accadde A,
Ohio Players,
Bootsy Collins,
Nils Olav,
Sun Ra,
Marmalade,
Arab on Radar,
The Durutti Column,
Fear,
John Coltrane,
Eden Ahbez,
MC5,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
This Heat,
La Düsseldorf,
Amon Düül,
John Holt,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Dual Sessions,
Blake Baxter,
Henry Cow,
Q65,
Patti Smith,
Vainqueur,
Rotary Connection,
Arcadia,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Max Romeo,
the Bar-Kays,
Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal.
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.