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 Kuwait and from New York.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 snare 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 The Walker Brothers to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Deakin. All the underground hits.
All Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moss Icon 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
D'Angelo,
Soul II Soul,
Eden Ahbez,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ohio Players,
Pylon,
Swans,
In Retrospect,
Gang of Four,
CMW,
Sound Behaviour,
Bootsy Collins,
Frankie Knuckles,
DJ Sneak,
The Raincoats,
Quadrant,
Outsiders,
Mission of Burma,
David McCallum,
Marcia Griffiths,
F. McDonald,
Peter & Gordon,
Stiv Bators,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Cluster,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Alton Ellis,
The Techniques,
Ponytail,
Reagan Youth,
Dorothy Ashby,
Laurel Aitken,
Television,
Piero Umiliani,
Sexual Harrassment,
Mo-Dettes,
The Count Five,
James White and The Blacks,
Toni Rubio,
Susan Cadogan,
Bauhaus,
Tommy Roe,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sarah Menescal,
Heaven 17,
Radiohead,
The Residents,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Motions,
New Order,
Danielle Patucci,
Moby Grape,
The Young Rascals,
Bill Wells,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Litter,
Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell.
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.