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 Iceland and from Copenhagen.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba 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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft 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 The Leaves. All the underground hits.
All Fatback Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Junior Murvin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cymande,
the Normal,
Gastr Del Sol,
Public Enemy,
Chrome,
Panda Bear,
John Holt,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
New Age Steppers,
Khruangbin,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Marc Almond,
Mantronix,
U.S. Maple,
DJ Sneak,
Heaven 17,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
John Coltrane,
The Doobie Brothers,
ABBA,
Sex Pistols,
Marvin Gaye,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Sound Behaviour,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
JFA,
The Golliwogs,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Glenn Branca,
Shoche,
Television,
Brothers Johnson,
Buzzcocks,
Jacques Brel,
Amazonics,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Isaac Hayes,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Barclay James Harvest,
the Swans,
Big Daddy Kane,
Peter and Kerry,
T. Rex,
Brick,
David Bowie,
Cecil Taylor,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sandy B,
Mr. Review,
Wire,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Gun Club,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Talk Talk,
Monks,
Ornette Coleman,
the Bar-Kays,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines.
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.