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 Mali and from Mumbai.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Last Poets to the grunge 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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All The Men They Couldn't Hang tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Parry Music record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
Lungfish,
Chris Corsano,
The Detroit Cobras,
Khruangbin,
Panda Bear,
the Human League,
The Zeros,
Godley & Creme,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Joy Division,
Monolake,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Banda Bassotti,
Harmonia,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Brand Nubian,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Letta Mbulu,
Todd Terry,
Radiohead,
Deadbeat,
Black Pus,
Tears for Fears,
Minor Threat,
Sound Behaviour,
Skriet,
The Fall,
Lucky Dragons,
The Divine Comedy,
The Move,
The Fuzztones,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Kevin Saunderson,
Basic Channel,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Schoolly D,
The Victims,
Ponytail,
The Electric Prunes,
Crispy Ambulance,
Piero Umiliani,
The Saints,
Aural Exciters,
Be Bop Deluxe,
R.M.O.,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sandy B,
Pantytec,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Warren Ellis,
Shoche,
Drive Like Jehu,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Misunderstood,
The Litter,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ituana,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fatback Band,
Lightning Bolt,
Robert Hood,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.