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 Lesotho and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 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 Q and Not U to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All Monolake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
Archie Shepp,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Grass Roots,
Donny Hathaway,
Mission of Burma,
Yazoo,
Panda Bear,
Warren Ellis,
Joe Finger,
John Cale,
Newcleus,
DJ Style,
Dual Sessions,
Pierre Henry,
Blancmange,
Todd Terry,
New Order,
Toni Rubio,
Morten Harket,
The Cowsills,
Bootsy Collins,
Soulsonic Force,
Roy Ayers,
Bush Tetras,
the Association,
Gabor Szabo,
Technova,
Black Bananas,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Remains,
Derrick May,
The Wake,
a-ha,
Black Pus,
Peter and Kerry,
The Seeds,
Danielle Patucci,
Delta 5,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Robert Görl,
X-101,
Chris & Cosey,
Q65,
The Offenders,
Idris Muhammad,
The Walker Brothers,
The Sonics,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jacob Miller,
Pussy Galore,
Half Japanese,
Bluetip,
Juan Atkins,
Lebanon Hanover,
Saccharine Trust,
Mantronix,
Albert Ayler,
Rufus Thomas,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.