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 Swaziland 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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar 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 DeepChord presents Echospace to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faraquet,
In Retrospect,
Sixth Finger,
KRS-One,
R.M.O.,
Juan Atkins,
The Martian,
Michelle Simonal,
Nirvana,
Adolescents,
Warren Ellis,
Con Funk Shun,
Eddi Front,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ponytail,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
DNA,
The Cramps,
Lungfish,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bill Wells,
Yaz,
Bronski Beat,
Anthony Braxton,
Rakim,
Lou Reed,
Ultravox,
Visage,
The Kinks,
Boredoms,
The Names,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Dark Day,
The Last Poets,
Can,
Lalo Schifrin,
Magazine,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Minny Pops,
Iggy Pop,
The Residents,
Mr. Review,
Index,
the Soft Cell,
Outsiders,
Surgeon,
Dawn Penn,
The Smoke,
Darondo,
Colin Newman,
Radiohead,
The Barracudas,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Mummies,
Black Flag,
Eric Copeland,
Quantec,
Massinfluence,
Country Teasers,
Sarah Menescal,
Banda Bassotti,
Excepter,
Echospace,
Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters.
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.