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 Sweden and from Lyon.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 The Birthday Party 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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flipper 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Japan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Public Image Ltd.,
Half Japanese,
Howard Jones,
Matthew Bourne,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Surgeon,
Model 500,
Barrington Levy,
The Blackbyrds,
Electric Prunes,
Ken Boothe,
CMW,
June Days,
Bluetip,
Black Pus,
Man Parrish,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Smoke,
Toni Rubio,
Technova,
Bootsy Collins,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Lightning Bolt,
Cheater Slicks,
Leonard Cohen,
The Techniques,
Radiopuhelimet,
Urselle,
DJ Style,
Robert Hood,
The Litter,
Harry Pussy,
Schoolly D,
Max Romeo,
Lucky Dragons,
Unrelated Segments,
Zapp,
Jandek,
Rosa Yemen,
The Searchers,
Terry Callier,
Panda Bear,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
a-ha,
Al Stewart,
Heaven 17,
Dorothy Ashby,
Johnny Clarke,
48th St. Collective,
The Wake,
Soulsonic Force,
Ash Ra Tempel,
These Immortal Souls,
Jesper Dahlback,
Barry Ungar,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Gories,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ultra Naté,
FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit.
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.