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 Rwanda and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 K-Klass to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Wake. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick May,
Wire,
Harmonia,
Brick,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ultravox,
the Swans,
Sixth Finger,
The Toasters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Brand Nubian,
Hot Snakes,
Jimmy McGriff,
Frankie Knuckles,
The American Breed,
Faraquet,
Clear Light,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Jeff Mills,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Aural Exciters,
Cabaret Voltaire,
China Crisis,
Absolute Body Control,
Von Mondo,
Talk Talk,
Funkadelic,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Jacob Miller,
Jawbox,
Rites of Spring,
Pylon,
Sugar Minott,
Roger Hodgson,
Ultra Naté,
Half Japanese,
The Slits,
The Names,
Todd Rundgren,
Peter & Gordon,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Mandrill,
Swans,
Mission of Burma,
Yaz,
Scan 7,
Unwound,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Johnny Osbourne,
Todd Terry,
In Retrospect,
Laurel Aitken,
Tomorrow,
Pole,
Skriet,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Warsaw,
Aswad,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.