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 Ethiopia and from Edmonton.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 mellotron 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 Slave to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Japan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funky Four + One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Sheep,
Harmonia,
The Evens,
The Gories,
Infiniti,
The Real Kids,
Bobby Byrd,
Alphaville,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Arthur Verocai,
Max Romeo,
Terrestrial Tones,
Danielle Patucci,
Brothers Johnson,
a-ha,
Groovy Waters,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Standells,
Joyce Sims,
Barry Ungar,
Drexciya,
The Skatalites,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Moleskins,
John Cale,
Rosa Yemen,
The Barracudas,
Khruangbin,
Wings,
Janne Schatter,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Neon Judgement,
Isaac Hayes,
The Grass Roots,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Funky Four + One,
Nation of Ulysses,
Underground Resistance,
the Association,
Wally Richardson,
Wolf Eyes,
Soulsonic Force,
Eric Copeland,
Mandrill,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Tubeway Army,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Jeff Mills,
Glenn Branca,
Television,
Man Parrish,
Gang Gang Dance,
Quantec,
Procol Harum,
The Residents,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine, Major Organ And The Adding Machine, Major Organ And The Adding Machine, Major Organ And The Adding 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.