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 Hungary and from Philadelphia.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Tim Buckley to the funk 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 Ituana. All the underground hits.
All Anthony Braxton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skaos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fort Wilson Riot,
Skriet,
The Associates,
Essential Logic,
The Buckinghams,
The Beau Brummels,
Section 25,
Arthur Verocai,
Sam Rivers,
Oneida,
R.M.O.,
Japan,
Barry Ungar,
Matthew Halsall,
Second Layer,
Neu!,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Byron Stingily,
Sight & Sound,
Rapeman,
Black Flag,
Arcadia,
Bauhaus,
Scrapy,
Dawn Penn,
Guru Guru,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Cheater Slicks,
Charles Mingus,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Interpol,
Susan Cadogan,
Marcia Griffiths,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Detroit Cobras,
LL Cool J,
Ice-T,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Flash Fearless,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Youth Brigade,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
La Düsseldorf,
Deepchord,
Pagans,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Suicide,
Eric Copeland,
Dorothy Ashby,
Brick,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Human League,
Black Moon,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Warsaw,
Hashim,
The Wake,
Judy Mowatt,
The Monochrome Set,
Gang Starr,
Roy Ayers,
Sandy B, Sandy B, Sandy B, Sandy B.
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.