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 Senegal and from Tehran.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Sonny Sharrock to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Byron Stingily. All the underground hits.
All The Names tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rapeman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Popol Vuh,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rhythm & Sound,
Symarip,
Ornette Coleman,
Joe Smooth,
Infiniti,
The Evens,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Half Japanese,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Moody Blues,
The Gories,
This Heat,
ABC,
Lalo Schifrin,
Suicide,
Zero Boys,
The Fall,
Delta 5,
Dual Sessions,
Sparks,
Shuggie Otis,
Sandy B,
Qualms,
The Smiths,
Black Flag,
DJ Sneak,
Black Moon,
Black Bananas,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Bar-Kays,
Laurel Aitken,
Fela Kuti,
Anthony Braxton,
Gichy Dan,
Eric Dolphy,
The Blackbyrds,
Banda Bassotti,
Main Source,
Prince Buster,
Swell Maps,
Japan,
T.S.O.L.,
Joy Division,
Visage,
The Black Dice,
Rosa Yemen,
Duran Duran,
Joe Finger,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Mandrill,
The Techniques,
Wolf Eyes,
Neil Young,
Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu.
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.