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 Solomon Islands and from Calgary.
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 Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
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 Rosa Yemen to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All Infiniti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Evens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Panda Bear,
Joe Smooth,
Parry Music,
Graham Central Station,
A Certain Ratio,
Crooked Eye,
New Order,
Anakelly,
Sällskapet,
Model 500,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Selecter,
Motorama,
The Smoke,
Pulsallama,
Big Daddy Kane,
Fat Boys,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Names,
The Standells,
Accadde A,
Roy Ayers,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Five Americans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Stooges,
Stiv Bators,
The New Christs,
Thompson Twins,
Roger Hodgson,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Neil Young,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Andrew Hill,
Harmonia,
Average White Band,
Khruangbin,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Joy Division,
The Cramps,
Spoonie Gee,
Sun Ra,
Moby Grape,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Mark Hollis,
Pagans,
Grandmaster Flash,
Avey Tare,
Excepter,
Skaos,
Warren Ellis,
Subhumans,
Arab on Radar,
the Fania All-Stars,
Derrick Morgan,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bill Wells,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Human League,
James White and The Blacks,
Marine Girls,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Sonics,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.