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 Kyrgyzstan and from New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Heaven 17 to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sonic Youth. All the underground hits.
All Art Ensemble Of Chicago tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dual Sessions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
Leonard Cohen,
The Remains,
Mars,
Average White Band,
Peter & Gordon,
Reuben Wilson,
Kerrie Biddell,
Gil Scott Heron,
Niagra,
the Normal,
Desert Stars,
Suburban Knight,
Ash Ra Tempel,
New Order,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sam Rivers,
a-ha,
Skarface,
R.M.O.,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Barracudas,
Glambeats Corp.,
Lightning Bolt,
June Days,
E-Dancer,
Jeru the Damaja,
Mantronix,
The New Christs,
La Düsseldorf,
Fela Kuti,
Q and Not U,
Junior Murvin,
The Slackers,
Shoche,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Reagan Youth,
Drive Like Jehu,
Amon Düül,
Interpol,
Cecil Taylor,
Deakin,
Sandy B,
Negative Approach,
Carl Craig,
Charles Mingus,
Animal Collective,
Yaz,
Robert Hood,
DNA,
Maleditus Sound,
Subhumans,
Minutemen,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Stetsasonic,
Tears for Fears,
Soul II Soul,
Wasted Youth,
Monks,
Bad Manners,
The Evens, The Evens, The Evens, The Evens.
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.