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 Guyana and from Bologna.
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 Shanghai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the marimba 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 Peter and Kerry to the rap 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 The Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All Jeru the Damaja tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
10cc,
Scan 7,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Moby Grape,
The Remains,
Glambeats Corp.,
Saccharine Trust,
Quando Quango,
Oneida,
Black Flag,
Rufus Thomas,
Vladislav Delay,
The Real Kids,
Adolescents,
The Human League,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Infiniti,
Alice Coltrane,
Simply Red,
Liliput,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tubeway Army,
The Cowsills,
Tommy Roe,
ABBA,
Cecil Taylor,
Spandau Ballet,
Gang of Four,
Cymande,
Excepter,
Lightning Bolt,
Cheater Slicks,
The American Breed,
The Shadows of Knight,
Swans,
Blossom Toes,
the Swans,
Ken Boothe,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Aural Exciters,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
June Days,
8 Eyed Spy,
Stereo Dub,
Peter and Kerry,
Minnie Riperton,
Rosa Yemen,
Slave,
Derrick May,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The United States of America,
Terrestrial Tones,
Technova,
The Sonics,
Das Ding,
Kayak,
Siglo XX,
Roxy Music,
Au Pairs,
This Heat,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.