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 Sao Paulo.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Jimmy McGriff to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Sparks. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Banda Bassotti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
The Black Dice,
The Martian,
Depeche Mode,
Porter Ricks,
Kaleidoscope,
Amon Düül,
The Kinks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Roger Hodgson,
Sparks,
Derrick May,
Negative Approach,
The Saints,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Gong,
Hasil Adkins,
Roxy Music,
cv313,
The Gories,
Black Sheep,
The Mojo Men,
Don Cherry,
Buzzcocks,
The Smiths,
John Lydon,
Yusef Lateef,
Pantytec,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Matthew Bourne,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Black Pus,
Eve St. Jones,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Lou Christie,
Alton Ellis,
Rekid,
Man Parrish,
Fear,
Ten City,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Sonics,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Monks,
Gerry Rafferty,
Michelle Simonal,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Can,
The Last Poets,
The Leaves,
Leonard Cohen,
The Angels of Light,
Average White Band,
Althea and Donna,
Clear Light,
Skaos,
Piero Umiliani,
Maleditus Sound,
Todd Terry,
Mary Jane Girls,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.