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 Mauritius and from Bologna.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Fort Wilson Riot to the crunk 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 Moby Grape. All the underground hits.
All N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Interpol record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Brand Nubian,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Delon & Dalcan,
Newcleus,
Make Up,
Alphaville,
Tommy Roe,
The Skatalites,
Shoche,
The Toasters,
Black Flag,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Dawn Penn,
The Modern Lovers,
Robert Hood,
Lebanon Hanover,
Nirvana,
John Cale,
John Coltrane,
LL Cool J,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Barbara Tucker,
The Doors,
The Sonics,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Cal Tjader,
Quadrant,
Pet Shop Boys,
Panda Bear,
The Offenders,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
ABBA,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
World's Most,
Bronski Beat,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Soul II Soul,
Agitation Free,
Joy Division,
Joyce Sims,
Animal Collective,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pantaleimon,
Whodini,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Music Machine,
Lucky Dragons,
Grandmaster Flash,
Colin Newman,
Deepchord,
John Foxx,
Excepter,
Lou Christie,
Glenn Branca,
Idris Muhammad,
Flash Fearless,
The Fortunes,
Qualms,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ralphi Rosario,
Cheater Slicks,
David Axelrod,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.