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 Malta and from Stockholm.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 marimba 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 Andrew Hill to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Minny Pops. All the underground hits.
All Franke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mr. Review record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Shoche,
Nas,
Adolescents,
Slick Rick,
Big Daddy Kane,
Traffic Nightmare,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Nick Fraelich,
Matthew Bourne,
Drive Like Jehu,
Panda Bear,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Eddi Front,
Talk Talk,
Eurythmics,
Alton Ellis,
Animal Collective,
Ice-T,
The Cure,
Surgeon,
These Immortal Souls,
Cecil Taylor,
Grandmaster Flash,
Yusef Lateef,
Gang of Four,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Los Fastidios,
Schoolly D,
Maurizio,
Con Funk Shun,
Mr. Review,
The Flesh Eaters,
Youth Brigade,
Banda Bassotti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Babytalk,
Cameo,
The Move,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Severed Heads,
Brothers Johnson,
Sonny Sharrock,
Wally Richardson,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Guru Guru,
Agitation Free,
Althea and Donna,
Archie Shepp,
Grauzone,
cv313,
Prince Buster,
The Gladiators,
The Fugs,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Gap Band,
Anakelly,
Robert Görl,
Sam Rivers,
The Litter,
John Cale,
Silicon Teens,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.