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 Jordan and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lakeside record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a PIL record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
Rites of Spring,
Television Personalities,
Nirvana,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Rod Modell,
EPMD,
John Cale,
Pagans,
Dawn Penn,
The Durutti Column,
Harpers Bizarre,
Joe Smooth,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Birthday Party,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Index,
Reagan Youth,
Flash Fearless,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Chris Corsano,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Dual Sessions,
Tres Demented,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Liliput,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Hardrive,
B.T. Express,
Mark Hollis,
The Human League,
Letta Mbulu,
The United States of America,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Jacques Brel,
The Gun Club,
Marcia Griffiths,
Soul II Soul,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Cymande,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Roy Ayers,
Sun City Girls,
John Coltrane,
Piero Umiliani,
Gichy Dan,
Bob Dylan,
The Mummies,
The Standells,
Unrelated Segments,
Stockholm Monsters,
Con Funk Shun,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
One Last Wish,
David Bowie,
Patti Smith,
Swans,
MC5,
The Kinks,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.