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 Algeria and from Manila.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 808 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 Vainqueur to the rock 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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Ronnie Foster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlback record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fugazi,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Soft Cell,
Scott Walker,
Fatback Band,
Royal Trux,
Babytalk,
K-Klass,
Moby Grape,
Eric Copeland,
The Wake,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Massinfluence,
Gong,
Symarip,
Rotary Connection,
The Smoke,
the Sonics,
The Remains,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Blackbyrds,
Delta 5,
Jeff Mills,
Spoonie Gee,
Ohio Players,
June of 44,
Electric Prunes,
James White and The Blacks,
Crash Course in Science,
Maleditus Sound,
Joy Division,
Barrington Levy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Stockholm Monsters,
Prince Buster,
Swell Maps,
Niagra,
World's Most,
Nick Fraelich,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Funky Four + One,
Reagan Youth,
Ronan,
Television,
the Bar-Kays,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Trojans,
Kerri Chandler,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
the Fania All-Stars,
Khruangbin,
Fad Gadget,
Quantec,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
FM Einheit,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Max Romeo,
Organ,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Leonard Cohen,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.