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 Haiti and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the marimba 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 Jeff Lynne to the jazz 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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All The Martian tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Bourne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lightning Bolt,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kurtis Blow,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Zapp,
The Toasters,
Jawbox,
T.S.O.L.,
David Axelrod,
EPMD,
Wasted Youth,
Negative Approach,
Minny Pops,
Youth Brigade,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Durutti Column,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Archie Shepp,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Deadbeat,
The Flesh Eaters,
Boogie Down Productions,
Cluster,
Avey Tare,
Adolescents,
Soft Machine,
Ronnie Foster,
Nico,
Monks,
Heaven 17,
Grauzone,
Davy DMX,
Kenny Larkin,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Boz Scaggs,
Hoover,
Brand Nubian,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Todd Terry,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Vogues,
The Birthday Party,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Fugs,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lalo Schifrin,
Tommy Roe,
Ten City,
The Doors,
Malaria!,
Derrick Morgan,
Funkadelic,
Lalann,
Robert Görl,
Talk Talk,
Ralphi Rosario,
This Heat,
The Mummies,
Anakelly,
Roxy Music,
Mantronix,
Big Daddy Kane,
Frankie Knuckles,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.