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 Laos and from Accra.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Paris.
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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
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 Ken Boothe to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All Aloha Tigers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terror Squad Feat. Camron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Mad Mike,
The Moleskins,
The Gladiators,
Alton Ellis,
Sex Pistols,
Gichy Dan,
The Young Rascals,
Suicide,
Oblivians,
Quantec,
Donny Hathaway,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Peter & Gordon,
Schoolly D,
Jacques Brel,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Delta 5,
Danielle Patucci,
Joensuu 1685,
Tom Boy,
Maurizio,
The Human League,
Harry Pussy,
Mo-Dettes,
Rufus Thomas,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Golliwogs,
Johnny Clarke,
The Grass Roots,
Flipper,
The Blackbyrds,
Vainqueur,
Ituana,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lebanon Hanover,
John Cale,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Knickerbockers,
The Fugs,
Albert Ayler,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Gastr Del Sol,
Scrapy,
Dawn Penn,
Bobby Byrd,
Das Ding,
Royal Trux,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Mr. Review,
Tres Demented,
Black Bananas,
Fat Boys,
The Real Kids,
Rotary Connection,
Thee Headcoats,
Marshall Jefferson,
Los Fastidios,
Eric Dolphy,
Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas.
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.