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 Taiwan and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Robert Palmer 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 Gang Green to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 This Heat. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MDC 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jandek,
Thee Headcoats,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bush Tetras,
These Immortal Souls,
Simply Red,
The Searchers,
The Gap Band,
Funky Four + One,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Arab on Radar,
Neu!,
Brass Construction,
Electric Prunes,
Country Teasers,
Robert Görl,
The Blackbyrds,
Kerri Chandler,
Rekid,
Cluster,
Nirvana,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pussy Galore,
Banda Bassotti,
Dave Gahan,
Stiv Bators,
Hot Snakes,
The Sound,
Black Bananas,
Rosa Yemen,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Monks,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Harmonia,
DJ Sneak,
Kayak,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lindisfarne,
Sister Nancy,
Ronnie Foster,
Echospace,
KRS-One,
The Victims,
The Zeros,
Masters at Work,
Faraquet,
E-Dancer,
Angry Samoans,
Bobby Hutcherson,
DNA,
Deakin,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Albert Ayler,
Andrew Hill,
Kurtis Blow,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Das Ding,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Average White Band,
Avey Tare,
Unrelated Segments,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.