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 Montenegro and from Spokane.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Dorothy Ashby to the punk 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 Dark Day. All the underground hits.
All Suburban Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape 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?
U.S. Maple,
Reagan Youth,
The Happenings,
Bad Manners,
Little Man,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Victims,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Make Up,
Kayak,
Scrapy,
Stetsasonic,
Spandau Ballet,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Roger Hodgson,
Arab on Radar,
10cc,
The Pretty Things,
Kurtis Blow,
Procol Harum,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Gichy Dan,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
A Certain Ratio,
Niagra,
Bauhaus,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sun Ra,
David McCallum,
Fat Boys,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Agitation Free,
Marine Girls,
Donny Hathaway,
The Durutti Column,
Spoonie Gee,
Mandrill,
Black Sheep,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Blossom Toes,
Warsaw,
Porter Ricks,
Severed Heads,
Radiohead,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Gap Band,
Banda Bassotti,
Todd Rundgren,
Electric Prunes,
The Move,
Sparks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Accadde A,
Sun City Girls,
LL Cool J,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Brand Nubian,
The Smoke,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fear,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.