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 Gambia and from Halifax.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Wings to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sandy B. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Q65 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Rhythm & Sound,
Kerrie Biddell,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Minnie Riperton,
Lou Reed,
Young Marble Giants,
FM Einheit,
Silicon Teens,
Rod Modell,
Mission of Burma,
Lakeside,
Sunsets and Hearts,
LL Cool J,
Marine Girls,
Drive Like Jehu,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Sonic Youth,
Tommy Roe,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Young Rascals,
Bronski Beat,
a-ha,
Metal Thangz,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Erasure,
The Red Krayola,
Harpers Bizarre,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Scratch Acid,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
the Slits,
Outsiders,
Ten City,
The American Breed,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Move,
Eden Ahbez,
The Stooges,
The Skatalites,
Patti Smith,
the Swans,
Morten Harket,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Evens,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Smoke,
Sound Behaviour,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Zeros,
Janne Schatter,
Bang On A Can,
JFA,
Cybotron,
Tres Demented,
The Gladiators,
Goldenarms,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Raincoats,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.