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 Colombia and from Taipei.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Derrick Morgan to the grime 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 the Normal. All the underground hits.
All Vainqueur tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Men They Couldn't Hang 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Peter & Gordon,
Alton Ellis,
Easy Going,
Electric Prunes,
Maurizio,
Mandrill,
Kaleidoscope,
Joe Smooth,
Neil Young,
Excepter,
Procol Harum,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
A Certain Ratio,
The Moleskins,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Stooges,
Technova,
Icehouse,
The Move,
the Bar-Kays,
Letta Mbulu,
Eric Copeland,
Accadde A,
The Smiths,
Half Japanese,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
John Lydon,
Cymande,
The Wake,
the Swans,
Soft Cell,
Tommy Roe,
Kayak,
UT,
Popol Vuh,
Audionom,
John Holt,
Talk Talk,
L. Decosne,
Unwound,
Mark Hollis,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Basic Channel,
Lightning Bolt,
Symarip,
The Leaves,
Eurythmics,
Bootsy Collins,
Nas,
Barclay James Harvest,
Minny Pops,
Erykah Badu,
The Gun Club,
Los Fastidios,
Curtis Mayfield,
Funky Four + One,
Rufus Thomas,
Duran Duran,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Divine Comedy,
Kenny Larkin,
The Associates, The Associates, The Associates, The Associates.
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.