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 Ghana and from Lyon.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Halifax.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Essential Logic to the grunge 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 EPMD. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord 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?
CMW,
Dorothy Ashby,
Soft Cell,
Wasted Youth,
Outsiders,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
the Bar-Kays,
The Index,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
David Bowie,
Spoonie Gee,
Lou Christie,
Funky Four + One,
Brick,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Matthew Bourne,
Barclay James Harvest,
Roger Hodgson,
Trumans Water,
Faust,
Index,
The Grass Roots,
Jeff Lynne,
Section 25,
Sight & Sound,
Lower 48,
John Foxx,
Organ,
Yusef Lateef,
Maurizio,
The Cowsills,
Hoover,
The Raincoats,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Franke,
Eric Dolphy,
China Crisis,
Fat Boys,
X-101,
Harmonia,
Soul Sonic Force,
Kaleidoscope,
Fugazi,
Qualms,
Moebius,
The Selecter,
The Vogues,
Au Pairs,
Curtis Mayfield,
Kevin Saunderson,
Yellowson,
Oneida,
Thee Headcoats,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Peter and Kerry,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Red Krayola,
Ultimate Spinach,
10cc,
Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus.
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.