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 Guyana and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Glasgow.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare 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 The Doobie Brothers to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Litter. All the underground hits.
All Ronan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes 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 marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythm & Sound,
The Fortunes,
Delon & Dalcan,
Tim Buckley,
Jandek,
Bad Manners,
In Retrospect,
Au Pairs,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Unwound,
The Mojo Men,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Sound,
Terrestrial Tones,
Animal Collective,
Joy Division,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Cecil Taylor,
Barbara Tucker,
Banda Bassotti,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The United States of America,
Quando Quango,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Lee Hazlewood,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Dave Gahan,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Funky Four + One,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Judy Mowatt,
Kerrie Biddell,
the Bar-Kays,
The Angels of Light,
Skaos,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Black Pus,
Saccharine Trust,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Infiniti,
Pole,
Sex Pistols,
Joyce Sims,
LL Cool J,
Buzzcocks,
Glambeats Corp.,
Anthony Braxton,
MDC,
Sixth Finger,
the Normal,
La Düsseldorf,
Terry Callier,
The Divine Comedy,
Deepchord,
Deakin,
Ponytail,
Clear Light,
Eric B and Rakim,
Marvin Gaye,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.