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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Lille.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Aswad to the rap 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 Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nik Kershaw record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glambeats Corp. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
The Toasters,
Joyce Sims,
Bill Wells,
Royal Trux,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Simply Red,
Quando Quango,
the Germs,
Accadde A,
The J.B.'s,
Roy Ayers,
London Community Gospel Choir,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Pere Ubu,
The Move,
In Retrospect,
Grauzone,
Lou Reed,
Alison Limerick,
KRS-One,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bush Tetras,
Sam Rivers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Skaos,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Warren Ellis,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Wake,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Television Personalities,
The Gladiators,
Crispian St. Peters,
Deepchord,
The United States of America,
Stockholm Monsters,
Vladislav Delay,
Y Pants,
The Slits,
The Fugs,
Radiohead,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Tomorrow,
The New Christs,
Danielle Patucci,
Black Pus,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Invisible,
MDC,
Hardrive,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Circle Jerks,
Cymande,
Malaria!,
Andrew Hill,
Eric Dolphy,
T. Rex,
Moby Grape,
Half Japanese,
the Swans,
Althea and Donna,
Motorama,
Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani.
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.