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 Iceland and from Mumbai.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 güiro 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 the Association to the crunk 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 Black Pus. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Busters,
The Human League,
Saccharine Trust,
Sonny Sharrock,
Soulsonic Force,
The Count Five,
Wally Richardson,
Niagra,
Public Enemy,
Ultra Naté,
Morten Harket,
Alton Ellis,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Stetsasonic,
Ice-T,
Aaron Thompson,
The Leaves,
the Slits,
Surgeon,
Barbara Tucker,
AZ,
Fad Gadget,
Spoonie Gee,
Aswad,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rites of Spring,
The New Christs,
Big Daddy Kane,
Altered Images,
The Zeros,
Graham Central Station,
Matthew Bourne,
DNA,
Audionom,
the Sonics,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Saints,
Barry Ungar,
Jacques Brel,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Neon Judgement,
Black Sheep,
Donald Byrd,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Index,
PIL,
Blancmange,
Half Japanese,
Lakeside,
Ludus,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bill Near,
Max Romeo,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Fela Kuti,
Crispian St. Peters,
Yusef Lateef,
Lower 48,
The Cramps,
Metal Thangz,
Tubeway Army,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.