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 Tonga and from Stockholm.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet 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 Connie Case to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jimmy McGriff. All the underground hits.
All The Monochrome Set tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ken Boothe 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pop Group record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Busters,
Echospace,
Aloha Tigers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Nas,
Pantaleimon,
48th St. Collective,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Harry Pussy,
Peter & Gordon,
The Walker Brothers,
Deakin,
Slave,
Oblivians,
The Associates,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
This Heat,
Michelle Simonal,
The Index,
Rites of Spring,
Youth Brigade,
U.S. Maple,
Accadde A,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
FM Einheit,
The Remains,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Andrew Hill,
Trumans Water,
The Leaves,
MDC,
Amon Düül II,
Lalo Schifrin,
Patti Smith,
The Beau Brummels,
Suicide,
Jeff Mills,
T. Rex,
Niagra,
The Cowsills,
Donald Byrd,
Jandek,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pere Ubu,
David Bowie,
Faraquet,
K-Klass,
Eric B and Rakim,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sight & Sound,
The American Breed,
ABC,
Loose Ends,
Aural Exciters,
The Evens,
Lou Reed,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Tres Demented,
Flamin' Groovies,
Make Up, Make Up, Make Up, Make Up.
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.