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 Saudi Arabia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the punk 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Procol Harum record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Barrington Levy,
Dawn Penn,
James White and The Blacks,
David Bowie,
The Doors,
Porter Ricks,
The Star Department,
Sarah Menescal,
The Doobie Brothers,
Second Layer,
Pere Ubu,
Scratch Acid,
Malaria!,
Robert Hood,
Das Ding,
Alton Ellis,
The Angels of Light,
Thee Headcoats,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Glenn Branca,
Nils Olav,
Matthew Halsall,
Scan 7,
Tres Demented,
The Cowsills,
Radiopuhelimet,
Amazonics,
Jacob Miller,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Flamin' Groovies,
Todd Terry,
The Busters,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Lou Reed,
Metal Thangz,
Stereo Dub,
This Heat,
The Knickerbockers,
the Association,
Bauhaus,
The Index,
Eric Copeland,
Mantronix,
Nico,
Silicon Teens,
Desert Stars,
Monolake,
Fela Kuti,
Absolute Body Control,
Robert Wyatt,
Danielle Patucci,
Rod Modell,
FM Einheit,
the Soft Cell,
Soulsonic Force,
Basic Channel,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Leonard Cohen,
Nation of Ulysses,
Crash Course in Science, Crash Course in Science, Crash Course in Science, Crash Course in Science.
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.