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 Kuwait and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gang of Four to the grime 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 Funkadelic. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Guru Guru record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a harpsichord and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gories record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Outsiders,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
DJ Style,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mars,
Ornette Coleman,
The Walker Brothers,
Anthony Braxton,
Rosa Yemen,
Wasted Youth,
Scratch Acid,
Archie Shepp,
Brand Nubian,
Blake Baxter,
The Vogues,
Boogie Down Productions,
Man Eating Sloth,
Suicide,
Eli Mardock,
The Sound,
The Smiths,
Vladislav Delay,
Skriet,
Qualms,
Neu!,
Idris Muhammad,
The Buckinghams,
Pagans,
Massinfluence,
Don Cherry,
Drexciya,
Faust,
Bob Dylan,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Crash Course in Science,
Sight & Sound,
Bobby Byrd,
Von Mondo,
Bill Near,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ossler,
Organ,
Fat Boys,
Amon Düül II,
Maurizio,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Negative Approach,
Agent Orange,
Quantec,
Arthur Verocai,
Average White Band,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Agitation Free,
This Heat,
Sound Behaviour,
Livin' Joy,
Faraquet,
a-ha,
Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro.
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.