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 Palau 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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 Gil Scott Heron to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Tim Buckley. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marmalade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bad Manners,
Supertramp,
Japan,
Hasil Adkins,
Wings,
The Walker Brothers,
Brass Construction,
Buzzcocks,
Soulsonic Force,
Malaria!,
Zapp,
Surgeon,
Goldenarms,
JFA,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Groovy Waters,
These Immortal Souls,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Scan 7,
Angry Samoans,
Roger Hodgson,
Gil Scott Heron,
the Soft Cell,
Cecil Taylor,
The Dirtbombs,
DJ Style,
Laurel Aitken,
The Dead C,
Funkadelic,
Nirvana,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Human League,
Anakelly,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Grass Roots,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bill Wells,
Basic Channel,
Gong,
Pere Ubu,
Alice Coltrane,
Letta Mbulu,
Cameo,
The Cure,
Popol Vuh,
The Names,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bang On A Can,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ossler,
Y Pants,
David McCallum,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Mojo Men,
Spoonie Gee,
Godley & Creme,
Section 25,
Robert Wyatt,
OOIOO,
Technova,
Danielle Patucci,
The Electric Prunes,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.