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 Brunei and from Cairo.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Monolake to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gories. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Spoonie Gee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
Make Up,
Pantytec,
Boredoms,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ohio Players,
AZ,
The Neon Judgement,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rhythm & Sound,
Angry Samoans,
Au Pairs,
Slick Rick,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Lindisfarne,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Theoretical Girls,
Amon Düül II,
a-ha,
Franke,
Rosa Yemen,
Pole,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Godley & Creme,
Danielle Patucci,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Black Moon,
Nico,
Radiohead,
Magma,
Todd Rundgren,
Althea and Donna,
The Moody Blues,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
ABC,
Gang of Four,
Scion,
Dorothy Ashby,
Anthony Braxton,
World's Most,
Public Enemy,
Scan 7,
Masters at Work,
Pulsallama,
Idris Muhammad,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Funky Four + One,
The Sound,
Blancmange,
Pet Shop Boys,
Dennis Brown,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Music Machine,
In Retrospect,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Brick,
Sparks,
Suicide,
Wings,
The Saints,
Wire,
Agent Orange,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.