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 Namibia and from Houston.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Fort Wilson Riot to the jazz 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Black Sheep tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Toni Rubio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Archie Shepp,
Rakim,
Derrick Morgan,
Ice-T,
Sight & Sound,
Kayak,
Marvin Gaye,
Gong,
Marshall Jefferson,
Matthew Bourne,
Aaron Thompson,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Second Layer,
The Techniques,
Cluster,
The Monochrome Set,
Crispian St. Peters,
Radiohead,
Jeff Mills,
Mission of Burma,
Rites of Spring,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jawbox,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Cecil Taylor,
The Dirtbombs,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Connie Case,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Blackbyrds,
Supertramp,
Pulsallama,
48th St. Collective,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Lindisfarne,
Peter and Kerry,
Amon Düül,
The Associates,
Subhumans,
Todd Rundgren,
Eric Dolphy,
the Germs,
Gang Starr,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sparks,
The Stooges,
EPMD,
Tom Boy,
The Grass Roots,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Joey Negro,
Cymande,
These Immortal Souls,
Joyce Sims,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Bobby Byrd,
Tropical Tobacco,
Interpol,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.