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 Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All The Angels of Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Newcleus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
Charles Mingus,
Barry Ungar,
Newcleus,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ponytail,
Tres Demented,
The Dirtbombs,
kango's stein massive,
Scan 7,
Marine Girls,
Glenn Branca,
Arab on Radar,
Terrestrial Tones,
Girls At Our Best!,
Dennis Brown,
Harmonia,
Sound Behaviour,
Tim Buckley,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Television,
Hardrive,
Rekid,
Josef K,
The Monks,
The Gladiators,
Nils Olav,
Peter and Kerry,
Kerri Chandler,
Curtis Mayfield,
Amon Düül,
The Cramps,
Delon & Dalcan,
Main Source,
Judy Mowatt,
Underground Resistance,
The Leaves,
Donald Byrd,
the Fania All-Stars,
Nick Fraelich,
The Selecter,
Q and Not U,
Half Japanese,
Rosa Yemen,
The Evens,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Fire Engines,
The Monochrome Set,
Black Moon,
Wolf Eyes,
Ultravox,
Kenny Larkin,
Country Teasers,
Mad Mike,
Severed Heads,
Oneida,
The Golliwogs,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.