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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Houston.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 clarinet 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 Sad Lovers and Giants to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 ABC. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rekid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerri Chandler,
Wire,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ronnie Foster,
Unrelated Segments,
Sound Behaviour,
EPMD,
Oneida,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lee Hazlewood,
Frankie Knuckles,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
cv313,
The Gladiators,
Darondo,
The Barracudas,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Kaleidoscope,
Drexciya,
New Order,
Boz Scaggs,
The Black Dice,
Outsiders,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Janne Schatter,
Don Cherry,
Kerrie Biddell,
Metal Thangz,
Hoover,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gang Green,
Chris & Cosey,
The Names,
Liliput,
London Community Gospel Choir,
10cc,
The Birthday Party,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Big Daddy Kane,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Porter Ricks,
The Slits,
The Wake,
Lightning Bolt,
Thompson Twins,
Joey Negro,
Absolute Body Control,
Harry Pussy,
the Human League,
The Divine Comedy,
Anthony Braxton,
Soul II Soul,
Black Pus,
Subhumans,
Heaven 17,
The Modern Lovers,
Black Bananas,
Nirvana,
Rakim,
Negative Approach,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.