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 Dominica and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Tomorrow to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tommy Roe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arcadia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Animal Collective,
Funkadelic,
Bill Near,
Kurtis Blow,
Lindisfarne,
Matthew Halsall,
Lakeside,
Blossom Toes,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gang Starr,
The Knickerbockers,
Magazine,
Throbbing Gristle,
Panda Bear,
Colin Newman,
Guru Guru,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Man Parrish,
Cal Tjader,
Popol Vuh,
The Angels of Light,
the Fania All-Stars,
Depeche Mode,
the Normal,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Cure,
Brass Construction,
The Raincoats,
Marcia Griffiths,
Alton Ellis,
Loose Ends,
Zero Boys,
Outsiders,
Sparks,
Barclay James Harvest,
David Axelrod,
Radiohead,
Jimmy McGriff,
Nico,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
H. Thieme,
Thee Headcoats,
Theoretical Girls,
Yellowson,
Camouflage,
Ituana,
Ponytail,
The Residents,
Sonny Sharrock,
Lou Reed,
Ossler,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Leonard Cohen,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Mary Jane Girls,
Black Moon,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Rapeman,
Gang Green,
Piero Umiliani,
The Fall,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.