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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Aswad 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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All Alison Limerick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Essential Logic 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tres Demented,
Rakim,
Henry Cow,
Idris Muhammad,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Moleskins,
Pantaleimon,
Skriet,
Bootsy Collins,
Stereo Dub,
Pulsallama,
Quadrant,
Suburban Knight,
Mad Mike,
The Martian,
Popol Vuh,
Soulsonic Force,
Outsiders,
David McCallum,
Archie Shepp,
Infiniti,
Ohio Players,
Angry Samoans,
Public Enemy,
Chris Corsano,
Tommy Roe,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Beau Brummels,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Cramps,
Quando Quango,
Tim Buckley,
Magma,
The Pretty Things,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Mandrill,
kango's stein massive,
The Sonics,
The Index,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Eddi Front,
Boogie Down Productions,
R.M.O.,
Barclay James Harvest,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Grass Roots,
Nils Olav,
Fatback Band,
Terry Callier,
Sällskapet,
Theoretical Girls,
Chris & Cosey,
Iggy Pop,
Hoover,
Sex Pistols,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Cheater Slicks,
Gil Scott Heron,
Stiv Bators,
Khruangbin, Khruangbin, Khruangbin, Khruangbin.
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.