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 Ukraine and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Absolute Body Control to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Blancmange. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ten City record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gregory Isaacs,
Danielle Patucci,
The Busters,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Vainqueur,
Bill Wells,
Frankie Knuckles,
Todd Terry,
Altered Images,
the Soft Cell,
Ituana,
Anthony Braxton,
Mo-Dettes,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Barracudas,
Babytalk,
Marshall Jefferson,
Motorama,
Darondo,
Cameo,
48th St. Collective,
The Dead C,
Excepter,
Country Teasers,
These Immortal Souls,
Joey Negro,
ABC,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Judy Mowatt,
The Mummies,
Alison Limerick,
Erykah Badu,
Echospace,
Symarip,
Freddie Wadling,
Scrapy,
Bootsy Collins,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Black Sheep,
Panda Bear,
Mad Mike,
Sight & Sound,
In Retrospect,
The Tremeloes,
Chrome,
The United States of America,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Blake Baxter,
Gil Scott Heron,
Underground Resistance,
Smog,
Barry Ungar,
Gang Green,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ten City,
Radio Birdman,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Glambeats Corp.,
Howard Jones,
Dorothy Ashby,
Wasted Youth,
Janne Schatter, Janne Schatter, Janne Schatter, Janne Schatter.
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.