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 Eritrea and from Lagos.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the grunge 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 The Zeros. All the underground hits.
All Fifty Foot Hose tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Silicon Teens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
Pere Ubu,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sarah Menescal,
Idris Muhammad,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Nik Kershaw,
Bill Wells,
Infiniti,
Fat Boys,
Swans,
Ken Boothe,
The Smoke,
Faraquet,
ABBA,
DJ Style,
Pole,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Moebius,
Japan,
The Trojans,
The Happenings,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Cowsills,
The Toasters,
Joy Division,
Lalann,
Ronnie Foster,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Stereo Dub,
The Wake,
Basic Channel,
Black Flag,
Gang Gang Dance,
Robert Hood,
The Birthday Party,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Names,
Can,
EPMD,
Chris & Cosey,
Graham Central Station,
Second Layer,
The Black Dice,
The Kinks,
Michelle Simonal,
Dark Day,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Scott Walker,
The Fortunes,
Pantytec,
Young Marble Giants,
Marcia Griffiths,
Index,
Pussy Galore,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
D'Angelo,
Darondo,
Sound Behaviour,
Reuben Wilson,
The Gladiators,
Con Funk Shun,
Whodini,
Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan.
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.