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 Mauritania and from Delhi.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every a-ha 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lindisfarne,
Radiopuhelimet,
Gregory Isaacs,
Talk Talk,
Flipper,
8 Eyed Spy,
Brick,
Marmalade,
Rekid,
Henry Cow,
DJ Sneak,
Country Teasers,
Bobby Byrd,
Desert Stars,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Terrestrial Tones,
Blossom Toes,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Suburban Knight,
Dawn Penn,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Howard Jones,
Ken Boothe,
Kool Moe Dee,
A Certain Ratio,
Man Parrish,
Glenn Branca,
Swell Maps,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Charles Mingus,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sonics,
Bush Tetras,
Scrapy,
Bobby Sherman,
Mo-Dettes,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
10cc,
The Barracudas,
Bauhaus,
The Five Americans,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Minor Threat,
The Dead C,
The Fire Engines,
Lyres,
Animal Collective,
Mad Mike,
Roger Hodgson,
Mission of Burma,
Schoolly D,
Soft Machine,
Sonic Youth,
Sun Ra,
Todd Rundgren,
Kas Product,
X-Ray Spex,
Prince Buster,
Con Funk Shun,
Barrington Levy,
Von Mondo,
Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies.
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.