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 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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Darondo to the rock 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 Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dawn Penn record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Halsall record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
One Last Wish,
Jeff Lynne,
Stereo Dub,
Aural Exciters,
New York Dolls,
Kerrie Biddell,
Altered Images,
Dennis Brown,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Alison Limerick,
Public Image Ltd.,
Don Cherry,
Scion,
Marvin Gaye,
Ponytail,
Arab on Radar,
Basic Channel,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Inner City,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Dave Clark Five,
Quadrant,
The Dirtbombs,
Sun Ra,
Flash Fearless,
D'Angelo,
Lower 48,
Albert Ayler,
Laurel Aitken,
The Motions,
Junior Murvin,
Avey Tare,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Doobie Brothers,
Johnny Clarke,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Metal Thangz,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
the Soft Cell,
The Kinks,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Lindisfarne,
The Sonics,
Lakeside,
Derrick Morgan,
Boz Scaggs,
T.S.O.L.,
The Moleskins,
Black Bananas,
Wings,
The Leaves,
Frankie Knuckles,
Idris Muhammad,
Audionom,
Marshall Jefferson,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
the Normal,
Vainqueur,
Index,
Pylon, Pylon, Pylon, Pylon.
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.