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 Switzerland and from Johannesburg.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba 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 John Holt to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glambeats Corp. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Nas,
Soft Machine,
the Germs,
Second Layer,
A Certain Ratio,
Skaos,
Rosa Yemen,
New Age Steppers,
Lindisfarne,
Girls At Our Best!,
Judy Mowatt,
The Blackbyrds,
Barclay James Harvest,
Neu!,
Aswad,
Circle Jerks,
The Remains,
Monolake,
Fluxion,
One Last Wish,
Metal Thangz,
Blancmange,
Sparks,
Todd Terry,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dawn Penn,
Icehouse,
Simply Red,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Tim Buckley,
Bobby Sherman,
Inner City,
Main Source,
The Trojans,
Con Funk Shun,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
the Fania All-Stars,
Yusef Lateef,
Arab on Radar,
Junior Murvin,
Godley & Creme,
The Blues Magoos,
Radiopuhelimet,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ornette Coleman,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
David Axelrod,
Delta 5,
Intrusion,
Nation of Ulysses,
Stetsasonic,
The Neon Judgement,
Drexciya,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bob Dylan,
Dorothy Ashby,
Amazonics,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine.
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.