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 Namibia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 mellotron 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Moby Grape. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Susan Cadogan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
cv313,
Pharoah Sanders,
Harpers Bizarre,
Rapeman,
Pulsallama,
Neil Young,
Soft Machine,
Grandmaster Flash,
Todd Terry,
Nas,
John Lydon,
The Modern Lovers,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Donny Hathaway,
Sister Nancy,
Blancmange,
The Blues Magoos,
Fad Gadget,
Khruangbin,
Boogie Down Productions,
Country Teasers,
Yusef Lateef,
The Golliwogs,
Barbara Tucker,
Massinfluence,
E-Dancer,
Jeff Mills,
Trumans Water,
Electric Prunes,
Lindisfarne,
Skarface,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ten City,
Boredoms,
U.S. Maple,
Unrelated Segments,
ABC,
Skriet,
Gastr Del Sol,
X-Ray Spex,
Nick Fraelich,
The Mummies,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Vainqueur,
Flipper,
The Litter,
Metal Thangz,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bobby Womack,
Isaac Hayes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
MC5,
Qualms,
Soul II Soul,
Idris Muhammad,
Juan Atkins,
Agitation Free,
Mad Mike,
Pole,
Agent Orange,
Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum.
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.