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 Equatorial Guinea and from Glasgow.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz 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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pylon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Sherman,
New Age Steppers,
Blancmange,
The Doors,
Marmalade,
Al Stewart,
The Dead C,
The Zeros,
The Shadows of Knight,
Rosa Yemen,
the Slits,
Das Ding,
Drexciya,
Qualms,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Depeche Mode,
Harmonia,
The Tremeloes,
MC5,
Curtis Mayfield,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Invisible,
Iggy Pop,
Eddi Front,
Joyce Sims,
The Wake,
Black Moon,
Warren Ellis,
New York Dolls,
Funky Four + One,
China Crisis,
Maleditus Sound,
Archie Shepp,
Freddie Wadling,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Minnie Riperton,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The J.B.'s,
The Saints,
Carl Craig,
Fear,
Derrick May,
The Busters,
The Searchers,
Frankie Knuckles,
La Düsseldorf,
Motorama,
Franke,
Sun Ra,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Warsaw,
the Association,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Country Joe & The Fish,
June Days, June Days, June Days, June Days.
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.