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 Nicaragua and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the electroclash 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 Icehouse. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smoke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Henry Cow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Unrelated Segments,
Vladislav Delay,
Underground Resistance,
In Retrospect,
Black Moon,
Rites of Spring,
Radio Birdman,
Drexciya,
ABC,
Crispian St. Peters,
One Last Wish,
Morten Harket,
Pylon,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Zapp,
Swell Maps,
Public Enemy,
PIL,
Cecil Taylor,
Brass Construction,
Kevin Saunderson,
Pulsallama,
Gabor Szabo,
The Knickerbockers,
The Stooges,
Lucky Dragons,
Alison Limerick,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Metal Thangz,
Tommy Roe,
DNA,
Man Parrish,
Donald Byrd,
The Golliwogs,
Kurtis Blow,
the Association,
D'Angelo,
Jacques Brel,
Ken Boothe,
Babytalk,
Mark Hollis,
Smog,
Sugar Minott,
Dark Day,
Bob Dylan,
Oneida,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Excepter,
Kenny Larkin,
Marc Almond,
Von Mondo,
Throbbing Gristle,
cv313,
Warsaw,
The Young Rascals,
Black Sheep,
Sarah Menescal,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.