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 Bangladesh and from Delhi.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 sitar 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 Yusef Lateef to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Wire. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glambeats Corp. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Girls At Our Best!,
Dorothy Ashby,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Offenders,
the Soft Cell,
Urselle,
Pierre Henry,
Erykah Badu,
John Holt,
Yazoo,
Sam Rivers,
Gabor Szabo,
Marine Girls,
Robert Hood,
Blake Baxter,
Avey Tare,
Fear,
Quando Quango,
Lungfish,
Tears for Fears,
Bob Dylan,
Sex Pistols,
The Searchers,
Zero Boys,
Oneida,
U.S. Maple,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Moebius,
Qualms,
Derrick May,
James White and The Blacks,
T.S.O.L.,
Camberwell Now,
Popol Vuh,
Brass Construction,
Nirvana,
The Sound,
Marvin Gaye,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Cure,
Arthur Verocai,
Kool Moe Dee,
Visage,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Agitation Free,
Darondo,
Gil Scott Heron,
The American Breed,
the Bar-Kays,
DJ Sneak,
Joensuu 1685,
Dual Sessions,
Cheater Slicks,
The Doobie Brothers,
Echospace,
Animal Collective,
The Golliwogs,
Yellowson,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kerrie Biddell,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
X-102,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.