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 Lithuania and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the electroclash 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 Technova. All the underground hits.
All John Foxx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerri Chandler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suburban Knight record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Make Up,
Yellowson,
Soft Cell,
Yazoo,
John Cale,
Drexciya,
Eric B and Rakim,
Morten Harket,
Animal Collective,
Tomorrow,
Funky Four + One,
Judy Mowatt,
Liliput,
the Bar-Kays,
Avey Tare,
Eric Dolphy,
The Index,
Procol Harum,
Rites of Spring,
Sarah Menescal,
Ken Boothe,
Magma,
Charles Mingus,
the Human League,
London Community Gospel Choir,
T. Rex,
Echospace,
Marmalade,
Yaz,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bush Tetras,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
This Heat,
H. Thieme,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bang On A Can,
The Raincoats,
Dark Day,
Pagans,
Sun Ra,
Camberwell Now,
Donald Byrd,
Con Funk Shun,
The Blues Magoos,
Loose Ends,
Sex Pistols,
Soulsonic Force,
Absolute Body Control,
Mission of Burma,
Gang Starr,
Pharoah Sanders,
Prince Buster,
Glambeats Corp.,
Silicon Teens,
Connie Case,
T.S.O.L.,
Archie Shepp,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
E-Dancer,
Pierre Henry,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.