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 Canada and from Tehran.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 808 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 Yaz to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Oppenheimer Analysis. All the underground hits.
All Accadde A tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June of 44,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Cure,
Outsiders,
The Busters,
John Holt,
F. McDonald,
Soul II Soul,
The Last Poets,
Chris Corsano,
Swell Maps,
Sight & Sound,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Alphaville,
Cybotron,
Brass Construction,
Buzzcocks,
The Shadows of Knight,
Monolake,
Chrome,
The Stooges,
Silicon Teens,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Isaac Hayes,
H. Thieme,
Davy DMX,
Cecil Taylor,
Nick Fraelich,
Toni Rubio,
Make Up,
Darondo,
Unrelated Segments,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Blossom Toes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Gang Green,
New York Dolls,
Don Cherry,
Aural Exciters,
Todd Terry,
Warsaw,
Crime,
Ten City,
Gang Starr,
The American Breed,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Vogues,
Quando Quango,
Bootsy Collins,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bobby Womack,
Ultra Naté,
Todd Rundgren,
John Lydon,
Khruangbin,
Terrestrial Tones,
Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection.
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.