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 Slovenia and from Woodstock.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and London.
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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Traffic Nightmare to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sun City Girls. All the underground hits.
All The Motions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moleskins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eve St. Jones,
Matthew Halsall,
Albert Ayler,
Excepter,
Surgeon,
Sex Pistols,
The Electric Prunes,
The Moody Blues,
Public Enemy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Camberwell Now,
Drexciya,
Model 500,
The Mojo Men,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Alice Coltrane,
Morten Harket,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Pere Ubu,
Yazoo,
The Selecter,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Scan 7,
Talk Talk,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Con Funk Shun,
Cybotron,
Piero Umiliani,
Heaven 17,
Tom Boy,
Minor Threat,
U.S. Maple,
the Sonics,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Crime,
Alphaville,
Cal Tjader,
Oblivians,
FM Einheit,
Dead Boys,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Knickerbockers,
The Dirtbombs,
The Pop Group,
The Star Department,
R.M.O.,
Flamin' Groovies,
Jacob Miller,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Associates,
The Walker Brothers,
The Fortunes,
Jandek,
Basic Channel,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soul II Soul,
Marmalade,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Skaos,
Loose Ends,
Ten City, Ten City, Ten City, Ten City.
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.