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 Chad and from Manchester.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Men They Couldn't Hang to the rap 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 The Grass Roots. All the underground hits.
All Make Up tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Make Up 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Isaac Hayes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
Grauzone,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Charles Mingus,
Ronnie Foster,
Mandrill,
OOIOO,
Spandau Ballet,
Marine Girls,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Q65,
Susan Cadogan,
Ohio Players,
Angry Samoans,
Gregory Isaacs,
AZ,
Supertramp,
Thompson Twins,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Aloha Tigers,
Accadde A,
Wolf Eyes,
Peter and Kerry,
Mars,
Archie Shepp,
Todd Rundgren,
Kevin Saunderson,
Section 25,
Gang Green,
Peter & Gordon,
Brass Construction,
Spoonie Gee,
The Monochrome Set,
Inner City,
Letta Mbulu,
Symarip,
Black Moon,
Connie Case,
Glambeats Corp.,
Unwound,
Royal Trux,
The Young Rascals,
The Techniques,
Alton Ellis,
Gang Starr,
Babytalk,
Robert Hood,
Drive Like Jehu,
New York Dolls,
Minny Pops,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Five Americans,
Cameo,
Jimmy McGriff,
Loose Ends,
Wire,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Harpers Bizarre,
Black Flag,
Eurythmics,
Masters at Work,
Piero Umiliani,
Drexciya,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.