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 Qatar 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Todd Terry to the electroclash 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 Susan Cadogan. All the underground hits.
All Anthony Braxton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra Arkestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eve St. Jones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Mission of Burma,
Schoolly D,
Bob Dylan,
The Beau Brummels,
Lou Reed,
Interpol,
OOIOO,
Traffic Nightmare,
Vladislav Delay,
Television,
Judy Mowatt,
Sugar Minott,
Quadrant,
La Düsseldorf,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Evens,
Can,
Swans,
Swell Maps,
Gang Gang Dance,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lee Hazlewood,
Warsaw,
The Star Department,
Marvin Gaye,
The Pretty Things,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Index,
Gichy Dan,
Inner City,
The Seeds,
Kayak,
Big Daddy Kane,
48th St. Collective,
Franke,
Joe Smooth,
A Certain Ratio,
Pole,
Todd Terry,
The Electric Prunes,
The Raincoats,
The Mummies,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Suicide,
The Searchers,
Yusef Lateef,
Gang Green,
Yellowson,
Moss Icon,
Chrome,
Robert Görl,
Sister Nancy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Brass Construction,
Mark Hollis,
Silicon Teens,
Symarip,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Crime,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Country Teasers,
Donny Hathaway,
Lou Christie,
The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas.
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.