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 Mauritania and from Lyon.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the güiro 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 Flipper to the rock 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 The Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All Leonard Cohen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Prunes,
Erykah Badu,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Supertramp,
The Zeros,
Tomorrow,
Matthew Halsall,
Pere Ubu,
Sonic Youth,
Soulsonic Force,
Erasure,
The Residents,
Rufus Thomas,
Newcleus,
the Normal,
Man Parrish,
U.S. Maple,
Sound Behaviour,
Graham Central Station,
Neil Young,
Jeru the Damaja,
New York Dolls,
Pole,
Wire,
Grandmaster Flash,
Delon & Dalcan,
Funkadelic,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Yazoo,
Isaac Hayes,
Half Japanese,
Gong,
Tropical Tobacco,
Saccharine Trust,
Bill Near,
Eve St. Jones,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Smoke,
Amon Düül,
Spoonie Gee,
Circle Jerks,
Albert Ayler,
Wasted Youth,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Aaron Thompson,
Make Up,
Index,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Von Mondo,
Peter & Gordon,
Sugar Minott,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Con Funk Shun,
La Düsseldorf,
Swans,
Wolf Eyes,
Frankie Knuckles,
KRS-One,
Donny Hathaway,
Drexciya,
Lou Christie,
Nas, Nas, Nas, Nas.
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.