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 Italy and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Holger Czukay 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 Rufus Thomas to the jazz 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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Monks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Jeff Lynne,
Quadrant,
Fear,
The Smoke,
Oneida,
The American Breed,
The Modern Lovers,
Boogie Down Productions,
Funkadelic,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Camouflage,
Prince Buster,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Glenn Branca,
The Toasters,
Nas,
Underground Resistance,
The Busters,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Radio Birdman,
Yusef Lateef,
The Blues Magoos,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Terry Callier,
Tubeway Army,
The Black Dice,
Jawbox,
Blossom Toes,
Cheater Slicks,
Suburban Knight,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Tim Buckley,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gang Gang Dance,
Mad Mike,
Unrelated Segments,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Absolute Body Control,
The Vogues,
Nation of Ulysses,
Avey Tare,
Adolescents,
Swans,
Spoonie Gee,
CMW,
Groovy Waters,
June of 44,
Yellowson,
Wolf Eyes,
Derrick May,
T. Rex,
Tomorrow,
Kerrie Biddell,
Fat Boys,
Anakelly,
Junior Murvin,
Eli Mardock,
Los Fastidios,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Amazonics,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.