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 Uruguay and from Beijing.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Big Daddy Kane to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Kerrie Biddell. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacob Miller,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Gap Band,
The Searchers,
Barbara Tucker,
Second Layer,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Mars,
Dual Sessions,
Tom Boy,
Funkadelic,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Barracudas,
Fluxion,
the Fania All-Stars,
Stetsasonic,
Symarip,
Pantaleimon,
Gichy Dan,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yellowson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Bootsy Collins,
One Last Wish,
Grauzone,
Masters at Work,
Little Man,
Marc Almond,
Black Pus,
Dave Gahan,
MC5,
Rhythm & Sound,
Fear,
Amon Düül,
Khruangbin,
Gang Green,
The Skatalites,
Isaac Hayes,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Lou Reed,
Monolake,
Scott Walker,
The Golliwogs,
Cluster,
Excepter,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Cowsills,
Supertramp,
Radiopuhelimet,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Model 500,
Procol Harum,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
F. McDonald,
Gil Scott Heron,
Stockholm Monsters,
Kaleidoscope,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.