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 Guinea and from Columbus.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Houston.
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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the grime 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 The Happenings. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Massinfluence record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gories 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?
X-102,
the Normal,
Das Ding,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Saccharine Trust,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Thompson Twins,
Youth Brigade,
World's Most,
Warren Ellis,
Ossler,
The Velvet Underground,
Kerrie Biddell,
Joy Division,
Animal Collective,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brand Nubian,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Donald Byrd,
Nils Olav,
Curtis Mayfield,
Judy Mowatt,
Ultra Naté,
Peter & Gordon,
OOIOO,
Lindisfarne,
Barrington Levy,
Hoover,
Sound Behaviour,
Gang Starr,
Juan Atkins,
U.S. Maple,
Mad Mike,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
the Sonics,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Fire Engines,
Johnny Clarke,
The Golliwogs,
The Associates,
Maleditus Sound,
Qualms,
Barbara Tucker,
Joensuu 1685,
The Trojans,
Urselle,
Amon Düül II,
Radiopuhelimet,
Stereo Dub,
Leonard Cohen,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Alarm Clocks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Severed Heads,
Popol Vuh,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Soulsonic Force,
The Toasters,
The Motions,
Porter Ricks,
Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman.
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.