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 Germany and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Ohio Players to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mummies. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liliput record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Slits,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Underground Resistance,
Negative Approach,
The Wake,
Lightning Bolt,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Dave Clark Five,
Mantronix,
Joe Finger,
Saccharine Trust,
Excepter,
The Star Department,
Donald Byrd,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
the Normal,
Johnny Clarke,
Lou Christie,
Lucky Dragons,
Juan Atkins,
Drive Like Jehu,
Brothers Johnson,
Dual Sessions,
Aural Exciters,
The Knickerbockers,
Tomorrow,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Pulsallama,
Ultra Naté,
Soft Machine,
The Standells,
Gong,
Ludus,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Grey Daturas,
John Cale,
Half Japanese,
Main Source,
The Electric Prunes,
The Tremeloes,
Tres Demented,
Roy Ayers,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Agitation Free,
The Slackers,
The Count Five,
Dennis Brown,
Scion,
Graham Central Station,
Popol Vuh,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eve St. Jones,
Reuben Wilson,
The Black Dice,
The Kinks,
Wasted Youth,
ABC, ABC, ABC, ABC.
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.