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 Angola 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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Max Romeo to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Cameo. All the underground hits.
All Echo & the Bunnymen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Cale record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Walker Brothers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Theoretical Girls,
The Residents,
Stereo Dub,
The Trojans,
Minor Threat,
Wally Richardson,
the Slits,
The Pretty Things,
Dark Day,
The Mummies,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Scrapy,
La Düsseldorf,
Jandek,
Pet Shop Boys,
Eurythmics,
The Dead C,
Sandy B,
the Human League,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Fugs,
Avey Tare,
Massinfluence,
Ituana,
Animal Collective,
Archie Shepp,
Kaleidoscope,
Jawbox,
The Skatalites,
Mad Mike,
Joyce Sims,
Rakim,
Absolute Body Control,
Joensuu 1685,
Chris & Cosey,
Cabaret Voltaire,
kango's stein massive,
Altered Images,
Danielle Patucci,
Barrington Levy,
The Slackers,
Masters at Work,
K-Klass,
Harry Pussy,
The Gun Club,
Black Pus,
Ohio Players,
Make Up,
The Wake,
The Moody Blues,
Jeff Lynne,
Adolescents,
ABBA,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
F. McDonald,
Flipper,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Slick Rick,
Nation of Ulysses,
Yusef Lateef,
Grey Daturas,
Country Teasers, Country Teasers, Country Teasers, Country Teasers.
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.