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 China and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 In Retrospect to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gerry Rafferty record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
U.S. Maple,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Boz Scaggs,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Electric Prunes,
Stetsasonic,
Main Source,
The Offenders,
The Count Five,
The Monks,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Crime,
Piero Umiliani,
The Remains,
Oneida,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Michelle Simonal,
Masters at Work,
Aswad,
Jandek,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Index,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Adolescents,
Blancmange,
Flash Fearless,
Guru Guru,
Bootsy Collins,
Moby Grape,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kaleidoscope,
Scientists,
Ohio Players,
Spoonie Gee,
Prince Buster,
Judy Mowatt,
Franke,
T.S.O.L.,
the Bar-Kays,
Royal Trux,
The Seeds,
Archie Shepp,
Deepchord,
Pharoah Sanders,
Mantronix,
Niagra,
The Fortunes,
Andrew Hill,
the Sonics,
Idris Muhammad,
The Neon Judgement,
Funkadelic,
Scrapy,
Arab on Radar,
The Invisible,
Ludus,
Aural Exciters,
KRS-One,
The Selecter,
Television,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.