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 Ethiopia and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 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 It's A Beautiful Day to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Barbara Tucker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance 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 marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The New Christs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quando Quango,
Cheater Slicks,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sound Behaviour,
Scrapy,
Eve St. Jones,
Wings,
Young Marble Giants,
Mr. Review,
Jawbox,
The Gap Band,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bluetip,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Skatalites,
Siglo XX,
The Motions,
the Slits,
Eric Dolphy,
Roger Hodgson,
Lalann,
Charles Mingus,
Gregory Isaacs,
Yellowson,
The Modern Lovers,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Dave Clark Five,
Slave,
Jerry's Kids,
Derrick Morgan,
Max Romeo,
Rosa Yemen,
Sun Ra,
Ohio Players,
The J.B.'s,
Brothers Johnson,
Junior Murvin,
Lalo Schifrin,
Black Sheep,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Quadrant,
The Monks,
Hot Snakes,
T.S.O.L.,
Joey Negro,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sight & Sound,
Hashim,
Marine Girls,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Laurel Aitken,
Chris Corsano,
Archie Shepp,
Colin Newman,
Magma,
Kas Product,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
ABC,
Whodini,
Rakim,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.