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 Guatemala and from Philadelphia.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Clear Light to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a AZ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pulsallama,
T.S.O.L.,
The Skatalites,
Joyce Sims,
The Invisible,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Supertramp,
Theoretical Girls,
Davy DMX,
Ice-T,
Mandrill,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Derrick May,
Q65,
Flipper,
Marshall Jefferson,
Agent Orange,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Electric Prunes,
The Velvet Underground,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Sonics,
Quantec,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Excepter,
Newcleus,
Juan Atkins,
Anthony Braxton,
Joy Division,
Lower 48,
Soulsonic Force,
David Axelrod,
Marmalade,
X-Ray Spex,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Mission of Burma,
The Barracudas,
A Certain Ratio,
Subhumans,
Talk Talk,
Cluster,
Young Marble Giants,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Joe Finger,
Sandy B,
Alphaville,
PIL,
Warren Ellis,
Michelle Simonal,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Moody Blues,
Ornette Coleman,
The Angels of Light,
The Remains,
Deadbeat,
Crooked Eye,
Boogie Down Productions,
Technova,
Aswad,
The Saints,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.