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 Uzbekistan and from Columbus.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 chamberlin 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 Brothers Johnson to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Nirvana. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scientists record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pop Group,
Half Japanese,
These Immortal Souls,
Tim Buckley,
Q and Not U,
Tom Boy,
The Fire Engines,
Joyce Sims,
The Sound,
Swans,
Idris Muhammad,
the Soft Cell,
48th St. Collective,
Pierre Henry,
Barbara Tucker,
Maurizio,
Hardrive,
Y Pants,
Silicon Teens,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
John Coltrane,
Rekid,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sonic Youth,
Derrick Morgan,
Susan Cadogan,
World's Most,
Wire,
Dave Gahan,
the Human League,
Minny Pops,
Stockholm Monsters,
Soul Sonic Force,
Niagra,
Rosa Yemen,
The Slackers,
Donny Hathaway,
The Leaves,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Scratch Acid,
Sonny Sharrock,
LL Cool J,
Fugazi,
a-ha,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Roger Hodgson,
Siglo XX,
Sound Behaviour,
The Durutti Column,
Reuben Wilson,
the Sonics,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Residents,
Roy Ayers,
The Cramps,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Harmonia,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Vladislav Delay,
Section 25,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Archie Shepp,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.