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 Panama and from Woodstock.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 spring reverb 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 AZ to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Al Stewart. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scion 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a E-Dancer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
Sex Pistols,
Fat Boys,
The Real Kids,
Davy DMX,
Idris Muhammad,
Fatback Band,
China Crisis,
The Star Department,
The Associates,
Kerri Chandler,
The Mummies,
Nico,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Deakin,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Archie Shepp,
Marvin Gaye,
the Germs,
Cecil Taylor,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ken Boothe,
Ludus,
The Doors,
Swell Maps,
Frankie Knuckles,
JFA,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Reagan Youth,
Piero Umiliani,
Nation of Ulysses,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Jesper Dahlback,
Wings,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Joe Smooth,
kango's stein massive,
Banda Bassotti,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Pop Group,
Junior Murvin,
the Slits,
Skarface,
EPMD,
Pharoah Sanders,
Symarip,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Whodini,
Ultra Naté,
Blancmange,
Alice Coltrane,
Althea and Donna,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Anthony Braxton,
Sam Rivers,
Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force.
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.