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 Kazakhstan and from Accra.
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 Salvador and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 AZ to the grime 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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stockholm Monsters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Detroit Cobras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blackbyrds,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Aaron Thompson,
The Fire Engines,
Mary Jane Girls,
Derrick Morgan,
Fela Kuti,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
MDC,
Rosa Yemen,
Saccharine Trust,
Moss Icon,
Desert Stars,
Pole,
Basic Channel,
Pharoah Sanders,
Soul Sonic Force,
Big Daddy Kane,
Jesper Dahlback,
Soul II Soul,
The Selecter,
Donald Byrd,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Underground Resistance,
Funkadelic,
The Misunderstood,
The Beau Brummels,
Stockholm Monsters,
Magma,
Groovy Waters,
Josef K,
Blancmange,
Con Funk Shun,
Robert Görl,
Angry Samoans,
Oblivians,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Zapp,
Porter Ricks,
Bauhaus,
Brand Nubian,
Lyres,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lakeside,
B.T. Express,
One Last Wish,
Al Stewart,
Roy Ayers,
Donny Hathaway,
Sister Nancy,
A Certain Ratio,
Franke,
Tropical Tobacco,
Drive Like Jehu,
Can,
The Seeds,
Scion,
the Normal,
The Dirtbombs,
Arthur Verocai,
Darondo,
Suburban Knight,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Magazine,
The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s.
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.