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 Chad and from Lagos.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Ken Boothe to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Malaria!. All the underground hits.
All Crispian St. Peters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Toasters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Idris Muhammad,
AZ,
Marvin Gaye,
Gerry Rafferty,
Moss Icon,
Country Teasers,
Kenny Larkin,
Mark Hollis,
Soft Machine,
The Young Rascals,
June Days,
Wally Richardson,
Brass Construction,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
This Heat,
The Trojans,
A Certain Ratio,
DJ Sneak,
Carl Craig,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Barry Ungar,
Ken Boothe,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lindisfarne,
Eric Copeland,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Fuzztones,
Colin Newman,
Pagans,
New Age Steppers,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Bootsy Collins,
Nation of Ulysses,
Altered Images,
The Mojo Men,
La Düsseldorf,
Howard Jones,
Pylon,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Joe Smooth,
Alice Coltrane,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Velvet Underground,
Stockholm Monsters,
Franke,
Kayak,
X-101,
Hasil Adkins,
The Real Kids,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
48th St. Collective,
T.S.O.L.,
Khruangbin,
Skriet,
Tomorrow,
The Sound,
Gregory Isaacs,
Erykah Badu,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water.
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.