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 Yemen and from Tehran.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Shuggie Otis to the rap 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 Soulsonic Force. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echospace record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barry Ungar,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Supertramp,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pylon,
Inner City,
Soft Machine,
Yaz,
The United States of America,
New Age Steppers,
Con Funk Shun,
Silicon Teens,
Hasil Adkins,
CMW,
Junior Murvin,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Circle Jerks,
DJ Sneak,
The J.B.'s,
Pulsallama,
Rod Modell,
The Residents,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Lakeside,
Agitation Free,
Wally Richardson,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Judy Mowatt,
Bobby Byrd,
Prince Buster,
The Leaves,
Subhumans,
Matthew Bourne,
Jandek,
June Days,
Animal Collective,
Unrelated Segments,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
ABBA,
Boogie Down Productions,
Scion,
Rakim,
Fear,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Amon Düül II,
Nils Olav,
Los Fastidios,
Marmalade,
Schoolly D,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Fluxion,
The Young Rascals,
Rapeman,
Bad Manners,
T.S.O.L.,
Anthony Braxton,
Crooked Eye,
the Association,
Roy Ayers,
The Index,
Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu.
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.