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 Kenya and from Lille.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the 808 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 Pierre Henry to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Dave Clark Five. All the underground hits.
All Tim Buckley tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smoke 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Babytalk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Scion,
cv313,
Heaven 17,
Matthew Halsall,
Deepchord,
The Grass Roots,
Maurizio,
Slick Rick,
David Axelrod,
Slave,
Wire,
Ronan,
The Music Machine,
Qualms,
The Trojans,
R.M.O.,
Eurythmics,
Glambeats Corp.,
Niagra,
The Count Five,
Chrome,
Junior Murvin,
Anakelly,
Magazine,
The Zeros,
Animal Collective,
Jandek,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Soft Cell,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Parry Music,
Black Sheep,
Can,
Delon & Dalcan,
Lower 48,
Terrestrial Tones,
Joe Finger,
Soul II Soul,
Camouflage,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Kayak,
The Fire Engines,
The Standells,
Black Flag,
Prince Buster,
The Busters,
Kaleidoscope,
The Victims,
Lalo Schifrin,
DJ Sneak,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Leonard Cohen,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Alison Limerick,
Scott Walker,
Lebanon Hanover,
Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal.
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.