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 Bahamas and from Calgary.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Archie Shepp to the techno 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Dawn Penn,
Heaven 17,
La Düsseldorf,
Gang Gang Dance,
Wally Richardson,
Fugazi,
Dennis Brown,
Piero Umiliani,
Andrew Hill,
Suicide,
Jesper Dahlback,
Harmonia,
Todd Terry,
Danielle Patucci,
Nation of Ulysses,
Interpol,
Archie Shepp,
Funky Four + One,
Vainqueur,
LL Cool J,
Davy DMX,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Black Sheep,
Infiniti,
cv313,
The Slits,
Ten City,
Rapeman,
Jeru the Damaja,
Los Fastidios,
a-ha,
the Fania All-Stars,
Fela Kuti,
Wasted Youth,
Guru Guru,
Johnny Clarke,
Thompson Twins,
Ludus,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Wings,
Marvin Gaye,
Gerry Rafferty,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ultra Naté,
Stetsasonic,
Qualms,
Joensuu 1685,
Porter Ricks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Grauzone,
U.S. Maple,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Saints,
Magma,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Arthur Verocai,
AZ,
Royal Trux,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jerry Gold Smith,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Surgeon,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.