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 Trinidad & Tobago 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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the rhodes 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 The Neon Judgement to the grime 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pet Shop Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pop Group record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
Niagra,
Dorothy Ashby,
Funky Four + One,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Victims,
Clear Light,
Con Funk Shun,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Doobie Brothers,
June Days,
Moby Grape,
48th St. Collective,
Sam Rivers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Harry Pussy,
Royal Trux,
UT,
Charles Mingus,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lightning Bolt,
Fatback Band,
Electric Prunes,
Todd Terry,
10cc,
Skriet,
The Litter,
Funkadelic,
Judy Mowatt,
Freddie Wadling,
Donald Byrd,
Kurtis Blow,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Wire,
The Associates,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tim Buckley,
Sun Ra,
Warren Ellis,
Gregory Isaacs,
Stiv Bators,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Camberwell Now,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Knickerbockers,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Average White Band,
Suburban Knight,
Subhumans,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
These Immortal Souls,
Outsiders,
Black Sheep,
Urselle,
One Last Wish,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Livin' Joy,
Rites of Spring,
The Mojo Men,
The Pop Group,
The Gun Club,
Accadde A,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Manfred Mann's Earth 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.