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 Tanzania and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Aaron Thompson to the grime 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 Barbara Tucker. All the underground hits.
All The Count Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dave Clark Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Glambeats Corp.,
Lucky Dragons,
Cymande,
Fear,
Sugar Minott,
Tim Buckley,
Saccharine Trust,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Monochrome Set,
Camouflage,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Brand Nubian,
The Gladiators,
Franke,
Lou Reed,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Spoonie Gee,
Matthew Halsall,
The Young Rascals,
U.S. Maple,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Boredoms,
The Buckinghams,
The Techniques,
The Blackbyrds,
Ohio Players,
Todd Terry,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Crooked Eye,
Nils Olav,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
It's A Beautiful Day,
John Lydon,
Oneida,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
10cc,
Black Sheep,
The Flesh Eaters,
Technova,
Khruangbin,
Robert Hood,
X-Ray Spex,
Smog,
Suicide,
Kayak,
Television Personalities,
Reuben Wilson,
The Tremeloes,
Donny Hathaway,
Surgeon,
Hardrive,
Swans,
Laurel Aitken,
Nico,
the Bar-Kays,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Arthur Verocai,
Letta Mbulu,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water.
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.