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 Bhutan and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Mummies to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Jacob Miller tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sex Pistols record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deakin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Adolescents,
Donny Hathaway,
Isaac Hayes,
Boz Scaggs,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Porter Ricks,
Bill Wells,
Bush Tetras,
Piero Umiliani,
Rekid,
Michelle Simonal,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pulsallama,
Slick Rick,
The Cramps,
Minny Pops,
Deadbeat,
The Skatalites,
The Doors,
Dave Gahan,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Iggy Pop,
Das Ding,
Soft Cell,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
John Foxx,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Heaven 17,
Bizarre Inc.,
Al Stewart,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Leaves,
The Slits,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pet Shop Boys,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ossler,
Eurythmics,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Sonics,
Prince Buster,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Malaria!,
June Days,
The Wake,
The Blackbyrds,
Wings,
the Normal,
the Soft Cell,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Five Americans,
Parry Music,
Y Pants,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Gories,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Frankie Knuckles,
Chris & Cosey,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Albert Ayler,
Cameo,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.