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 Latvia 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 John Coltrane 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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chrome record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlbäck record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Absolute Body Control,
Eddi Front,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Black Pus,
Davy DMX,
Deepchord,
The Stooges,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Gun Club,
The Red Krayola,
Isaac Hayes,
Porter Ricks,
The Remains,
Brand Nubian,
Yellowson,
Eurythmics,
Amon Düül II,
Albert Ayler,
Agitation Free,
Fad Gadget,
Blancmange,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Man Parrish,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
John Foxx,
Fatback Band,
Q and Not U,
Danielle Patucci,
La Düsseldorf,
Faust,
Zapp,
Donny Hathaway,
Gerry Rafferty,
Eli Mardock,
The Walker Brothers,
Arcadia,
The Litter,
Junior Murvin,
The Pop Group,
Carl Craig,
Matthew Halsall,
Crispy Ambulance,
Popol Vuh,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lower 48,
Jandek,
Goldenarms,
Severed Heads,
Roxy Music,
Saccharine Trust,
Suicide,
Moby Grape,
Animal Collective,
ABBA,
CMW,
Soul II Soul,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Dead Boys,
Newcleus,
Soul Sonic Force,
Tommy Roe,
the Soft Cell,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.