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 Marshall Islands and from Sao Paulo.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Taipei.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Red Krayola to the jazz 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 Oppenheimer Analysis. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gories record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Jeff Mills,
Aloha Tigers,
Lindisfarne,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Faraquet,
The Litter,
Marine Girls,
the Bar-Kays,
Max Romeo,
Mad Mike,
The Skatalites,
Arab on Radar,
Jimmy McGriff,
Robert Wyatt,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Fat Boys,
Juan Atkins,
Pierre Henry,
Chris & Cosey,
Lou Christie,
Yazoo,
Judy Mowatt,
Radiohead,
The Fuzztones,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Tremeloes,
Malaria!,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jacob Miller,
The Golliwogs,
Andrew Hill,
Lungfish,
Crash Course in Science,
X-Ray Spex,
Piero Umiliani,
X-101,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Das Ding,
John Foxx,
Scott Walker,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Beau Brummels,
The Flesh Eaters,
Leonard Cohen,
Pere Ubu,
ABBA,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
In Retrospect,
The Buckinghams,
Siglo XX,
Monolake,
Parry Music,
The Fugs,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Mars,
Rosa Yemen,
Fear,
Yusef Lateef,
EPMD,
Magma, Magma, Magma, Magma.
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.