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 Uzbekistan and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 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 The Royal Family And The Poor to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Franke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Franke,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Chrome,
Subhumans,
Terrestrial Tones,
Slick Rick,
Scion,
The Index,
Aaron Thompson,
Outsiders,
Boogie Down Productions,
Rhythm & Sound,
Delta 5,
E-Dancer,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Joensuu 1685,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Names,
Freddie Wadling,
The Detroit Cobras,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Cure,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Fire Engines,
Judy Mowatt,
Skaos,
Crime,
D'Angelo,
Magma,
Radio Birdman,
David McCallum,
Hasil Adkins,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Erasure,
Davy DMX,
the Slits,
The Barracudas,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rod Modell,
Black Bananas,
Little Man,
Smog,
Gabor Szabo,
The Wake,
New Age Steppers,
PIL,
Eurythmics,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Animal Collective,
Kurtis Blow,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nirvana,
Ornette Coleman,
One Last Wish,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eli Mardock,
Bill Near,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Soul II Soul,
Ultimate Spinach,
Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring.
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.