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 Lesotho and from Glasgow.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Golliwogs to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ornette Coleman. All the underground hits.
All Sly & The Family Stone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Alarm Clocks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sisters of Mercy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Massinfluence,
Throbbing Gristle,
the Fania All-Stars,
D'Angelo,
Youth Brigade,
Vainqueur,
Second Layer,
Pet Shop Boys,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Amon Düül,
Scientists,
Michelle Simonal,
Colin Newman,
Lucky Dragons,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Leaves,
Rapeman,
DNA,
Fluxion,
Rekid,
Motorama,
Aaron Thompson,
Joey Negro,
Morten Harket,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Grey Daturas,
Blossom Toes,
John Lydon,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Stereo Dub,
Audionom,
Jerry Gold Smith,
David Bowie,
a-ha,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Gladiators,
Tomorrow,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Charles Mingus,
Juan Atkins,
Donald Byrd,
Laurel Aitken,
Maurizio,
The Stooges,
KRS-One,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Alphaville,
Dual Sessions,
Intrusion,
Inner City,
Radiohead,
Parry Music,
R.M.O.,
Dawn Penn,
Donny Hathaway,
the Association,
Lakeside,
Q and Not U,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.