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 Nigeria and from Winnipeg.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the snare 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 Flash Fearless to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Average White Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes 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 güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Das Ding,
Cameo,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Hasil Adkins,
Danielle Patucci,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sam Rivers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
48th St. Collective,
Country Teasers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Dawn Penn,
Peter & Gordon,
Funkadelic,
Soul Sonic Force,
Procol Harum,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pet Shop Boys,
Michelle Simonal,
Maurizio,
June Days,
This Heat,
The Mojo Men,
Adolescents,
Kaleidoscope,
Jacques Brel,
Bobby Womack,
Gang Starr,
Sparks,
Prince Buster,
Wings,
The Divine Comedy,
Jawbox,
Lightning Bolt,
Arab on Radar,
Gang of Four,
Blancmange,
Crispy Ambulance,
Marc Almond,
John Lydon,
One Last Wish,
The Names,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Oblivians,
The Fuzztones,
Mad Mike,
The Gories,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Black Bananas,
Symarip,
Sun Ra,
ABC,
Roy Ayers,
the Soft Cell,
Von Mondo,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Invisible,
The United States of America,
Boogie Down Productions, Boogie Down Productions, Boogie Down Productions, Boogie Down Productions.
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.