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 Ivory Coast and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Captain Beefheart 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 cv313 to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Oneida. All the underground hits.
All Fear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jerry's Kids 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sister Nancy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June of 44,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pantaleimon,
Marine Girls,
Deadbeat,
The Smoke,
Deepchord,
Donald Byrd,
Tres Demented,
Funkadelic,
The Evens,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Iggy Pop,
Harry Pussy,
Arcadia,
Neil Young,
Mars,
JFA,
Neu!,
Susan Cadogan,
Au Pairs,
Negative Approach,
Ronan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
James White and The Blacks,
The Doobie Brothers,
Max Romeo,
Pierre Henry,
Lou Christie,
Make Up,
Thee Headcoats,
Con Funk Shun,
Joy Division,
Ice-T,
The Victims,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Stereo Dub,
Excepter,
Franke,
Joe Finger,
The Alarm Clocks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Todd Terry,
The J.B.'s,
Rekid,
Agent Orange,
Barbara Tucker,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Barrington Levy,
Buzzcocks,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Cheater Slicks,
Animal Collective,
The Move,
Oneida,
The Associates,
Maurizio,
Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band.
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.