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 Singapore and from Hong Kong.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Lille.
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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Max Romeo to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ponytail record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Don Cherry,
Todd Terry,
Tubeway Army,
Wolf Eyes,
Sugar Minott,
The Associates,
Eric Copeland,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Half Japanese,
Audionom,
Minnie Riperton,
The Mummies,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Mr. Review,
Angry Samoans,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Real Kids,
The Searchers,
Von Mondo,
Clear Light,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Leaves,
Fear,
Bang On A Can,
Organ,
Cluster,
Television,
The Moody Blues,
The Misunderstood,
Curtis Mayfield,
Amazonics,
Bauhaus,
John Cale,
Shuggie Otis,
Hashim,
Reagan Youth,
Roxy Music,
Yellowson,
Tommy Roe,
The Cowsills,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sound Behaviour,
Ralphi Rosario,
Marcia Griffiths,
Zero Boys,
Banda Bassotti,
The Saints,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Glambeats Corp.,
Monolake,
Barry Ungar,
Parry Music,
Sonny Sharrock,
Marine Girls,
Judy Mowatt,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Byron Stingily,
The Smiths,
Second Layer,
B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express.
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.