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 Benin 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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Angels of Light to the grime 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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cheater Slicks 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ten City record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chrome,
Roxy Music,
Oneida,
Tommy Roe,
China Crisis,
Joe Smooth,
Arab on Radar,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Arthur Verocai,
The Techniques,
Moby Grape,
Howard Jones,
Groovy Waters,
Soulsonic Force,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Gladiators,
Barbara Tucker,
Icehouse,
Echospace,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Skatalites,
Morten Harket,
Monolake,
Simply Red,
Skaos,
The Divine Comedy,
Ultravox,
The Shadows of Knight,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sun City Girls,
Spandau Ballet,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
48th St. Collective,
The Black Dice,
Cymande,
Sam Rivers,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Man Parrish,
Scan 7,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott Heron,
Zapp,
The Buckinghams,
Boredoms,
The Moody Blues,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The American Breed,
The Star Department,
The Residents,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Misunderstood,
Von Mondo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Tears for Fears,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Cure,
Jandek,
Dennis Brown,
Niagra,
Minny Pops,
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks.
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.