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 Montenegro and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Public Enemy to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ultra Naté. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blossom Toes 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Joe Finger,
The Monks,
Charles Mingus,
The Gladiators,
Model 500,
Cheater Slicks,
The Saints,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lightning Bolt,
Organ,
The Fugs,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Derrick Morgan,
Kerri Chandler,
Boogie Down Productions,
Donald Byrd,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Erykah Badu,
Tom Boy,
Man Eating Sloth,
In Retrospect,
Bronski Beat,
Josef K,
Glenn Branca,
Khruangbin,
The Human League,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sexual Harrassment,
Avey Tare,
Shuggie Otis,
Ponytail,
Porter Ricks,
Dark Day,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Names,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pierre Henry,
Barbara Tucker,
The Electric Prunes,
Marvin Gaye,
Gong,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Joyce Sims,
Black Moon,
Gabor Szabo,
Livin' Joy,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Wake,
the Association,
Kenny Larkin,
John Foxx,
Terry Callier,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Aswad,
Severed Heads,
Dorothy Ashby,
Suicide,
Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.
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.