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 Niger and from Lille.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Graham Central Station to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All Chris Corsano tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter and Kerry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
The Fire Engines,
Josef K,
Kool Moe Dee,
a-ha,
Symarip,
The Fugs,
The New Christs,
U.S. Maple,
Marine Girls,
Joensuu 1685,
Fluxion,
Lee Hazlewood,
Cecil Taylor,
Dark Day,
The Vogues,
Toni Rubio,
Peter & Gordon,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Slave,
Hoover,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Black Dice,
Al Stewart,
Gang Starr,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Leaves,
Be Bop Deluxe,
the Sonics,
Con Funk Shun,
L. Decosne,
Nik Kershaw,
The Trojans,
Wally Richardson,
Livin' Joy,
Henry Cow,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Slick Rick,
Skarface,
Graham Central Station,
Erykah Badu,
Susan Cadogan,
Monks,
X-Ray Spex,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Aloha Tigers,
Vainqueur,
Gong,
Goldenarms,
Main Source,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Move,
Sam Rivers,
Yusef Lateef,
Lightning Bolt,
The Fall,
Stereo Dub,
The Five Americans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Isaac Hayes,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.