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 Netherlands 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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 B.T. Express to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Young Marble Giants. All the underground hits.
All The Grass Roots tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funky Four + One 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a E-Dancer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minnie Riperton,
Junior Murvin,
Circle Jerks,
One Last Wish,
Gregory Isaacs,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Robert Wyatt,
Stetsasonic,
Wire,
Silicon Teens,
Dark Day,
Duran Duran,
Skriet,
Cymande,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Pop Group,
The Tremeloes,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dennis Brown,
Chrome,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Thee Headcoats,
OOIOO,
Unrelated Segments,
The Slits,
The Cure,
Girls At Our Best!,
Marine Girls,
Animal Collective,
Dual Sessions,
Buzzcocks,
Kevin Saunderson,
Organ,
Second Layer,
Public Image Ltd.,
The United States of America,
Marshall Jefferson,
Yellowson,
The Black Dice,
Jawbox,
Nik Kershaw,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tears for Fears,
New York Dolls,
Pylon,
The Electric Prunes,
Man Parrish,
Eli Mardock,
The Evens,
Howard Jones,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Half Japanese,
Bill Wells,
Maleditus Sound,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Sonics,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pantytec,
Mandrill,
U.S. Maple,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.