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 Turkey and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 marimba 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 Peter and Kerry to the funk 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 Franke. All the underground hits.
All China Crisis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
World's Most,
Patti Smith,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Trojans,
New Order,
Nick Fraelich,
The Five Americans,
Rekid,
T. Rex,
Gong,
Procol Harum,
Vainqueur,
Skriet,
X-Ray Spex,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Black Moon,
The Skatalites,
Unwound,
Ohio Players,
the Soft Cell,
Dark Day,
Pole,
The Selecter,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Underground Resistance,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
ABC,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lower 48,
This Heat,
Main Source,
Ultravox,
The United States of America,
Fela Kuti,
Traffic Nightmare,
Marshall Jefferson,
Skarface,
Rosa Yemen,
Morten Harket,
Kool Moe Dee,
Jawbox,
Adolescents,
Rhythm & Sound,
Stetsasonic,
Wire,
Michelle Simonal,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mad Mike,
Hashim,
Anthony Braxton,
Organ,
Black Bananas,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
the Human League,
Monks,
Scratch Acid,
Crime,
Black Sheep,
The Associates,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Basic Channel,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.