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 Liberia and from Bremen.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar 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 Tommy Roe to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultramagnetic MC's 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 a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy Collins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Robert Görl,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Janne Schatter,
The Monochrome Set,
Thompson Twins,
Connie Case,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Godley & Creme,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Skriet,
Reagan Youth,
the Swans,
Joey Negro,
Kaleidoscope,
Lungfish,
Rod Modell,
Eve St. Jones,
Von Mondo,
Flipper,
Wire,
John Coltrane,
Banda Bassotti,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Association,
Los Fastidios,
Kenny Larkin,
The Mummies,
The Gun Club,
Jandek,
Matthew Bourne,
Eric Copeland,
Bill Near,
The Mojo Men,
Quando Quango,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Tubeway Army,
Organ,
Spandau Ballet,
Simply Red,
Crispy Ambulance,
Mars,
Ice-T,
Eddi Front,
Tom Boy,
Yusef Lateef,
Tropical Tobacco,
Talk Talk,
Average White Band,
Vainqueur,
The Happenings,
Howard Jones,
Ronnie Foster,
DNA,
Archie Shepp,
T.S.O.L.,
Minor Threat,
Bronski Beat,
Drexciya,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.