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 Maldives and from Copenhagen.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator 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 Porter Ricks to the funk 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 Trojans. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks 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 organ and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kenny Larkin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
F. McDonald,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Chris & Cosey,
Henry Cow,
Second Layer,
Cluster,
MC5,
Tubeway Army,
The Moody Blues,
Morten Harket,
The Five Americans,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Gun Club,
Marvin Gaye,
X-101,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Mark Hollis,
Masters at Work,
Funky Four + One,
The Names,
The Black Dice,
Robert Wyatt,
Glenn Branca,
the Swans,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Bobby Byrd,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Trojans,
Monolake,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Todd Terry,
Agitation Free,
FM Einheit,
R.M.O.,
kango's stein massive,
The Blues Magoos,
Joy Division,
EPMD,
The Index,
Q and Not U,
Duran Duran,
Stiv Bators,
The Red Krayola,
Crash Course in Science,
The Remains,
the Germs,
Yaz,
Fluxion,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Robert Hood,
Guru Guru,
The Vogues,
The Gladiators,
Traffic Nightmare,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Eve St. Jones,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Roy Ayers,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.