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 Samoa and from Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Manila.
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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the güiro 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Ponytail tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The J.B.'s,
The Human League,
Todd Terry,
Pulsallama,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Negative Approach,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jesper Dahlback,
Eurythmics,
Loose Ends,
The Residents,
Sun Ra,
Susan Cadogan,
The Grass Roots,
Hot Snakes,
Morten Harket,
Althea and Donna,
Franke,
In Retrospect,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Index,
Brothers Johnson,
Goldenarms,
Buzzcocks,
Slave,
Kerri Chandler,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Arthur Verocai,
Mandrill,
Robert Hood,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Main Source,
Donny Hathaway,
Girls At Our Best!,
Mantronix,
Ohio Players,
Yazoo,
Radiohead,
Sexual Harrassment,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Moleskins,
Max Romeo,
Suburban Knight,
Accadde A,
Matthew Bourne,
James White and The Blacks,
Shuggie Otis,
Stereo Dub,
The Doors,
Khruangbin,
Sound Behaviour,
Jimmy McGriff,
Matthew Halsall,
Half Japanese,
Barbara Tucker,
The Monks,
Sandy B,
Pierre Henry,
Trumans Water,
Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now.
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.