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 Hungary and from Milan.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 arpeggiator 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 Derrick May 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 Delon & Dalcan. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Desert Stars,
OOIOO,
Massinfluence,
Brick,
The Names,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Blake Baxter,
The Black Dice,
Khruangbin,
Dennis Brown,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Move,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Flesh Eaters,
June Days,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Y Pants,
Ohio Players,
Pussy Galore,
Youth Brigade,
Ronnie Foster,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Moss Icon,
48th St. Collective,
Smog,
Nick Fraelich,
The Fall,
Swell Maps,
Porter Ricks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Funky Four + One,
Excepter,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Whodini,
Ten City,
Yellowson,
Marine Girls,
Bill Near,
China Crisis,
The Sonics,
Hasil Adkins,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
B.T. Express,
Bobby Womack,
ABBA,
Junior Murvin,
Barrington Levy,
Andrew Hill,
Charles Mingus,
Todd Rundgren,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
D'Angelo,
Lungfish,
Flamin' Groovies,
DJ Style,
Aswad,
The Pretty Things,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
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.