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 Malaysia and from Glasgow.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Stereo Dub to the rap 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 PIL. All the underground hits.
All Liaisons Dangereuses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pussy Galore record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Clear Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Smog,
Index,
Rakim,
Carl Craig,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Dirtbombs,
Flamin' Groovies,
Swell Maps,
the Human League,
The Busters,
Jeff Mills,
Sugar Minott,
New Age Steppers,
the Fania All-Stars,
Neil Young,
Accadde A,
LL Cool J,
Lee Hazlewood,
Fear,
Magma,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Zero Boys,
The Monks,
Gastr Del Sol,
Quando Quango,
Symarip,
Depeche Mode,
The Raincoats,
Lalo Schifrin,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Young Marble Giants,
Ralphi Rosario,
Marcia Griffiths,
Michelle Simonal,
Eurythmics,
Charles Mingus,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Aaron Thompson,
The Mummies,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Camberwell Now,
cv313,
Jandek,
Darondo,
Kevin Saunderson,
Roy Ayers,
The Detroit Cobras,
Soft Machine,
Sandy B,
UT,
La Düsseldorf,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Faust,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
AZ,
Max Romeo,
Donny Hathaway,
Robert Görl,
The Real Kids,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.