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 Swaziland and from Johannesburg.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Niagra to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 DNA. All the underground hits.
All Altered Images tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Archie Shepp,
Iggy Pop,
Goldenarms,
Yazoo,
The Gun Club,
Popol Vuh,
Skarface,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Faust,
Make Up,
Bill Wells,
Eve St. Jones,
Dark Day,
Swans,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Moody Blues,
Quantec,
Crime,
Donny Hathaway,
Judy Mowatt,
Panda Bear,
Darondo,
Rod Modell,
10cc,
Bizarre Inc.,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Agitation Free,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Fatback Band,
Lalann,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Electric Prunes,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Eurythmics,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Metal Thangz,
Niagra,
Alton Ellis,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Buckinghams,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Erykah Badu,
T. Rex,
Bad Manners,
Marine Girls,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Sound,
Delon & Dalcan,
Peter & Gordon,
In Retrospect,
FM Einheit,
Brass Construction,
Matthew Bourne,
Essential Logic,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Zeros,
Bobby Sherman,
D'Angelo,
Lucky Dragons,
Surgeon,
Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu.
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.