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 Serbia and from Beijing.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the rhodes 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 It's A Beautiful Day to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Golliwogs. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Halsall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
Agent Orange,
Aloha Tigers,
Lucky Dragons,
Oblivians,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Fall,
Minor Threat,
Half Japanese,
Scrapy,
Fatback Band,
Boredoms,
Unrelated Segments,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bluetip,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Pop Group,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Swans,
Tomorrow,
The Slackers,
Dual Sessions,
Young Marble Giants,
Fluxion,
the Fania All-Stars,
Letta Mbulu,
James White and The Blacks,
Malaria!,
Skaos,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Mantronix,
Gang Gang Dance,
Aural Exciters,
Colin Newman,
Loose Ends,
The Index,
Maleditus Sound,
Todd Rundgren,
B.T. Express,
The Electric Prunes,
Fugazi,
This Heat,
Sun Ra,
Grauzone,
OOIOO,
Sister Nancy,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nico,
The Slits,
Gerry Rafferty,
A Certain Ratio,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Infiniti,
John Coltrane,
Marvin Gaye,
Ralphi Rosario,
Kerri Chandler,
Kerrie Biddell, Kerrie Biddell, Kerrie Biddell, Kerrie Biddell.
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.