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 Burkina and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 guitar 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 X-102 to the rap 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 Rufus Thomas. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Index 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 a chamberlin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Main Source record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Frankie Knuckles,
Al Stewart,
Theoretical Girls,
LL Cool J,
Pole,
Pharoah Sanders,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Aural Exciters,
Matthew Bourne,
Lalo Schifrin,
Wally Richardson,
Basic Channel,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
H. Thieme,
Terry Callier,
Magazine,
The Cure,
Sun Ra,
Quadrant,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Guru Guru,
Sound Behaviour,
Sexual Harrassment,
Loose Ends,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bluetip,
Jeff Lynne,
Bad Manners,
Fatback Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Das Ding,
Thee Headcoats,
Brothers Johnson,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Howard Jones,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Fuzztones,
Cameo,
Unrelated Segments,
The Trojans,
F. McDonald,
Stiv Bators,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Young Rascals,
Average White Band,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Subhumans,
Blancmange,
New Order,
The American Breed,
Ultra Naté,
China Crisis,
The Searchers,
The Alarm Clocks,
Alice Coltrane,
Marcia Griffiths,
EPMD,
Bill Near,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.