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 Congo and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Human League to the electroclash 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 Joe Finger. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skarface 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 '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 F. McDonald record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fat Boys,
Buzzcocks,
Donald Byrd,
Kool Moe Dee,
Derrick May,
Gang Starr,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Pop Group,
The Smiths,
Con Funk Shun,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Names,
Soft Machine,
the Bar-Kays,
DJ Sneak,
Marmalade,
Wire,
The Five Americans,
Bill Near,
Crooked Eye,
L. Decosne,
Schoolly D,
Minor Threat,
48th St. Collective,
The Leaves,
Wally Richardson,
The Sound,
The Fortunes,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Avey Tare,
Echospace,
The Mojo Men,
Little Man,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scion,
Todd Rundgren,
One Last Wish,
Infiniti,
Bluetip,
Half Japanese,
Agitation Free,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Qualms,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Goldenarms,
Janne Schatter,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Moody Blues,
Faust,
Khruangbin,
Albert Ayler,
Groovy Waters,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Shuggie Otis,
Pantaleimon,
Big Daddy Kane,
Shoche,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.