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 Vietnam and from Bologna.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Quando Quango. All the underground hits.
All Nik Kershaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Music Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Steve Hackett,
Junior Murvin,
Ralphi Rosario,
Gang Starr,
The Mummies,
Roger Hodgson,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Depeche Mode,
Joe Smooth,
The Gladiators,
Black Moon,
Dorothy Ashby,
Severed Heads,
The Birthday Party,
Letta Mbulu,
Magazine,
Monks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Cal Tjader,
the Soft Cell,
Bootsy Collins,
Amon Düül,
Soulsonic Force,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sexual Harrassment,
Tubeway Army,
The Divine Comedy,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
ABC,
Toni Rubio,
Bill Near,
Scientists,
Bush Tetras,
Archie Shepp,
KRS-One,
Throbbing Gristle,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Rosa Yemen,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Gap Band,
Scrapy,
Das Ding,
Pere Ubu,
The J.B.'s,
John Lydon,
Con Funk Shun,
Albert Ayler,
Masters at Work,
Soft Machine,
Lyres,
Jeff Lynne,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Cure,
Josef K,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Real Kids,
The Associates,
Brand Nubian,
Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers.
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.