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 Mauritania and from Paris.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 marimba 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 Eric Dolphy to the dance 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 Lou Christie. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cymande record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hasil Adkins,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Selecter,
Livin' Joy,
The Walker Brothers,
Au Pairs,
Agitation Free,
Franke,
The Monks,
Q and Not U,
Goldenarms,
Ultimate Spinach,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Camberwell Now,
Tropical Tobacco,
The United States of America,
CMW,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Tres Demented,
The Smiths,
World's Most,
Dual Sessions,
The Fuzztones,
Henry Cow,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Victims,
The Barracudas,
Jesper Dahlback,
Curtis Mayfield,
Charles Mingus,
The Martian,
The Zeros,
Drive Like Jehu,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Crime,
Black Flag,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Cymande,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Gun Club,
Talk Talk,
Aloha Tigers,
Junior Murvin,
One Last Wish,
Duran Duran,
Saccharine Trust,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
FM Einheit,
The Real Kids,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lou Christie,
Archie Shepp,
Joy Division,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Judy Mowatt,
Mantronix,
Radiohead,
Gregory Isaacs,
Zero Boys,
The Buckinghams,
The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine.
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.