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 Swaziland 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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Boogie Down Productions to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Smiths. All the underground hits.
All Rekid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oneida 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 clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pretty Things record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chris & Cosey,
Brothers Johnson,
MDC,
Flash Fearless,
Schoolly D,
Sun Ra,
DNA,
Lungfish,
Reuben Wilson,
Gastr Del Sol,
DJ Style,
Kas Product,
Whodini,
Unwound,
The Victims,
Soulsonic Force,
Ossler,
Slick Rick,
Easy Going,
Average White Band,
Kerrie Biddell,
Glenn Branca,
Skaos,
Young Marble Giants,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Excepter,
Sister Nancy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
AZ,
Johnny Clarke,
Harmonia,
Desert Stars,
Radiohead,
Joyce Sims,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Franke,
The Remains,
Sam Rivers,
Funky Four + One,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Johnny Osbourne,
Royal Trux,
the Association,
The Count Five,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Anthony Braxton,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Skriet,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Charles Mingus,
The Durutti Column,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
U.S. Maple,
Oblivians,
Barclay James Harvest,
Derrick May,
Make Up,
Siglo XX,
Lucky Dragons,
Sällskapet,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.