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 Japan and from Tehran.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Laurel Aitken to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Brick. All the underground hits.
All Derrick Morgan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls 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 sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boz Scaggs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
Procol Harum,
Carl Craig,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Tres Demented,
David Axelrod,
Minnie Riperton,
Lou Reed,
Rhythm & Sound,
Graham Central Station,
Aswad,
Pussy Galore,
Parry Music,
Dual Sessions,
Brick,
Charles Mingus,
Heaven 17,
Erykah Badu,
The Alarm Clocks,
Traffic Nightmare,
R.M.O.,
The Music Machine,
Aural Exciters,
DJ Sneak,
Dawn Penn,
Sandy B,
The Residents,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Grey Daturas,
Alphaville,
Cymande,
H. Thieme,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Beau Brummels,
Monolake,
Jawbox,
Flipper,
Make Up,
John Cale,
Bang On A Can,
JFA,
The Knickerbockers,
Mr. Review,
Nick Fraelich,
Kaleidoscope,
Leonard Cohen,
Ultimate Spinach,
Rapeman,
Pulsallama,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Mo-Dettes,
Lightning Bolt,
Scan 7,
Scratch Acid,
Nils Olav,
Susan Cadogan,
Model 500,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Searchers,
Jandek,
Tubeway Army,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.