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 Philippines 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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Durutti Column to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Malaria! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minnie Riperton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Arcadia,
Donny Hathaway,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nils Olav,
Mark Hollis,
Derrick May,
Kenny Larkin,
Alison Limerick,
Jesper Dahlback,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Tropical Tobacco,
Thompson Twins,
F. McDonald,
Severed Heads,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Zero Boys,
Drexciya,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gong,
Glenn Branca,
The Black Dice,
Oblivians,
The Barracudas,
Bronski Beat,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Young Rascals,
Scan 7,
The J.B.'s,
Avey Tare,
Gang Starr,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
the Swans,
Brass Construction,
Supertramp,
Albert Ayler,
David McCallum,
Gabor Szabo,
Jeff Lynne,
Minor Threat,
Bush Tetras,
Agent Orange,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Sonic Youth,
John Holt,
Al Stewart,
Outsiders,
The Cowsills,
Fat Boys,
Hashim,
Adolescents,
kango's stein massive,
DJ Style,
Dennis Brown,
The Moody Blues,
Gregory Isaacs,
Funkadelic,
Pharoah Sanders,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.