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 Malta 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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Winnipeg.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Count Five to the grime 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 The Angels of Light. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Human League record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
The Pop Group,
Dual Sessions,
The Count Five,
Cameo,
Leonard Cohen,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Mr. Review,
Slick Rick,
Loose Ends,
Deakin,
Marcia Griffiths,
Frankie Knuckles,
Mary Jane Girls,
John Holt,
Nik Kershaw,
Robert Wyatt,
The Young Rascals,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
La Düsseldorf,
Judy Mowatt,
Franke,
Laurel Aitken,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Juan Atkins,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Skatalites,
The Grass Roots,
LL Cool J,
Ponytail,
The Tremeloes,
Rekid,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
the Bar-Kays,
Sam Rivers,
Jeff Mills,
The Remains,
Ronnie Foster,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Radiopuhelimet,
48th St. Collective,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Von Mondo,
Duran Duran,
Jacques Brel,
Bill Wells,
The Moody Blues,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bizarre Inc.,
L. Decosne,
Nils Olav,
The Trojans,
JFA,
F. McDonald,
Sällskapet,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Mo-Dettes,
Reuben Wilson,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Hot Snakes,
Bobby Sherman,
Danielle Patucci,
Buzzcocks,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.