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 Mexico and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Carl Craig. All the underground hits.
All Deakin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Steve Hackett record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moebius,
Interpol,
Brand Nubian,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Zapp,
Colin Newman,
Sonic Youth,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Scion,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Fela Kuti,
Marcia Griffiths,
Das Ding,
Nik Kershaw,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Roy Ayers,
Hot Snakes,
Arthur Verocai,
Peter & Gordon,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Dual Sessions,
Robert Hood,
Sparks,
The Victims,
Jeff Lynne,
Massinfluence,
Grandmaster Flash,
Swans,
Section 25,
Sister Nancy,
Outsiders,
Unwound,
Donald Byrd,
Blake Baxter,
Agent Orange,
Dawn Penn,
Surgeon,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Dorothy Ashby,
Donny Hathaway,
The Modern Lovers,
Negative Approach,
John Foxx,
Young Marble Giants,
World's Most,
Gerry Rafferty,
Harry Pussy,
Kurtis Blow,
Pole,
Aural Exciters,
Thee Headcoats,
the Human League,
Darondo,
D'Angelo,
Panda Bear,
Popol Vuh,
OOIOO,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
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.