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 Namibia and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Japan to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Symarip. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T. Rex 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Carl Craig record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cowsills,
Chris Corsano,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Kaleidoscope,
Rotary Connection,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Grauzone,
Eve St. Jones,
Kerri Chandler,
New Age Steppers,
Amon Düül,
The Smoke,
Amon Düül II,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Misunderstood,
Public Enemy,
Bootsy Collins,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Swans,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Johnny Osbourne,
Alison Limerick,
Joensuu 1685,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The New Christs,
The Skatalites,
Erasure,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Sound Behaviour,
JFA,
Reagan Youth,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
cv313,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Magma,
Marine Girls,
Echospace,
Iggy Pop,
The Selecter,
Malaria!,
The Martian,
Derrick Morgan,
Suburban Knight,
Gil Scott Heron,
Icehouse,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Delta 5,
Arcadia,
The Black Dice,
Jacques Brel,
Organ,
James White and The Blacks,
Cluster,
Toni Rubio,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Con Funk Shun,
Ludus,
Pylon,
Mantronix,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Althea and Donna,
The Walker Brothers,
Reuben Wilson,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.