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 Angola and from Toronto.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the grunge 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 The Doors. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scan 7 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Adolescents record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Prunes,
Ludus,
Khruangbin,
The Victims,
Average White Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Gladiators,
Reuben Wilson,
Delon & Dalcan,
Ponytail,
Laurel Aitken,
The Neon Judgement,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Johnny Clarke,
Arthur Verocai,
Kas Product,
The Techniques,
Suburban Knight,
The Skatalites,
The Stooges,
The Smoke,
Sonny Sharrock,
Scrapy,
Television,
David McCallum,
The Last Poets,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Dark Day,
Gil Scott Heron,
Newcleus,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Dead Boys,
Yusef Lateef,
Aural Exciters,
Tres Demented,
Boz Scaggs,
Drexciya,
Big Daddy Kane,
Todd Rundgren,
Eric Dolphy,
Roy Ayers,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kool Moe Dee,
Thompson Twins,
Gregory Isaacs,
the Germs,
Adolescents,
Godley & Creme,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Maleditus Sound,
Basic Channel,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
John Coltrane,
Depeche Mode,
The Count Five,
the Swans,
The Evens,
One Last Wish,
Parry Music,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.