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 Qatar 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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Slave to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Suicide. All the underground hits.
All The Gun Club tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echo & the Bunnymen 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Dolphy,
Con Funk Shun,
Marc Almond,
Joensuu 1685,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Bar-Kays,
Gong,
Fela Kuti,
Bootsy Collins,
Sonny Sharrock,
Skaos,
Blancmange,
Cecil Taylor,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Walker Brothers,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Pretty Things,
E-Dancer,
the Fania All-Stars,
Reuben Wilson,
The Litter,
Malaria!,
Rakim,
Bobbi Humphrey,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Brothers Johnson,
Blossom Toes,
Peter and Kerry,
Vainqueur,
a-ha,
Moss Icon,
Shuggie Otis,
Outsiders,
Todd Rundgren,
Toni Rubio,
Junior Murvin,
Funkadelic,
Stiv Bators,
Ice-T,
Sam Rivers,
Sonic Youth,
Hoover,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lower 48,
Arcadia,
Alton Ellis,
Skarface,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Zero Boys,
Unrelated Segments,
Sound Behaviour,
The Cramps,
L. Decosne,
The Barracudas,
Moby Grape,
Technova,
David Axelrod,
Royal Trux,
Jeff Mills,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.