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 Egypt 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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Manchester.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Terrestrial Tones to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Goldenarms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erasure,
Roxette,
Pierre Henry,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Jacques Brel,
Crash Course in Science,
Bobby Byrd,
Todd Rundgren,
F. McDonald,
Janne Schatter,
Youth Brigade,
Black Moon,
The Real Kids,
Scrapy,
Tommy Roe,
Pulsallama,
The Fuzztones,
Y Pants,
the Human League,
Urselle,
Slick Rick,
Gang Starr,
The Pretty Things,
JFA,
Lightning Bolt,
Carl Craig,
Susan Cadogan,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lakeside,
Malaria!,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Sound,
The Techniques,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Vladislav Delay,
Black Bananas,
The Electric Prunes,
Jawbox,
DNA,
Chris & Cosey,
Fad Gadget,
The Evens,
Bobby Womack,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
ABC,
John Foxx,
The Last Poets,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
London Community Gospel Choir,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Crooked Eye,
Guru Guru,
The Monochrome Set,
Morten Harket,
Eric Dolphy,
Pole,
Godley & Creme,
Accadde A,
ABBA,
Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover.
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.