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 Nauru and from Hong Kong.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 Johnny Osbourne to the grime 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Chris Corsano tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erasure record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Wells,
Fatback Band,
Andrew Hill,
Rotary Connection,
Minnie Riperton,
Simply Red,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
ABBA,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Icehouse,
Harry Pussy,
Monolake,
The Count Five,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Moleskins,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Kinks,
Wasted Youth,
Bobby Byrd,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bill Near,
Jacques Brel,
Kool Moe Dee,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Cowsills,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
H. Thieme,
Joey Negro,
Vladislav Delay,
Delta 5,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Searchers,
Mars,
Derrick May,
Khruangbin,
Toni Rubio,
Pantaleimon,
Zapp,
Jawbox,
OOIOO,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Neon Judgement,
Parry Music,
Lou Christie,
Erasure,
Peter and Kerry,
Aswad,
Byron Stingily,
Kurtis Blow,
Alice Coltrane,
John Foxx,
Electric Prunes,
Scott Walker,
Deadbeat,
Soul Sonic Force,
Unwound,
Desert Stars,
Donny Hathaway,
Brick,
Jeru the Damaja,
the Swans,
Youth Brigade,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.