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 Ireland and from Mexico City.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Alton Ellis to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Country Teasers. All the underground hits.
All Richard Hell and the Voidoids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Japan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
Cymande,
Ten City,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Dark Day,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Hardrive,
Sarah Menescal,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
New Order,
Gang Gang Dance,
Brass Construction,
L. Decosne,
Robert Hood,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sugar Minott,
The Raincoats,
Dawn Penn,
Sixth Finger,
Joy Division,
The United States of America,
Wire,
The Birthday Party,
Tears for Fears,
Scrapy,
Bush Tetras,
Magazine,
Sun Ra,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Victims,
Amon Düül,
Main Source,
The Modern Lovers,
Das Ding,
Spoonie Gee,
Khruangbin,
Darondo,
ABBA,
Harry Pussy,
Television Personalities,
Toni Rubio,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Stiv Bators,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Angry Samoans,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Andrew Hill,
Stereo Dub,
Alice Coltrane,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
AZ,
Junior Murvin,
Scratch Acid,
Carl Craig,
Mark Hollis,
Soft Machine,
The Black Dice,
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear.
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.