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 Belgium and from Philadelphia.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Subhumans to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Boredoms. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every a-ha 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boogie Down Productions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Excepter,
Blancmange,
The New Christs,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Pharoah Sanders,
Skriet,
Moby Grape,
Underground Resistance,
The Cowsills,
Pet Shop Boys,
Aaron Thompson,
DJ Sneak,
Au Pairs,
Henry Cow,
Robert Hood,
Chrome,
Fela Kuti,
Faust,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Fortunes,
Big Daddy Kane,
Cameo,
Tom Boy,
Gregory Isaacs,
Pole,
ABC,
Vladislav Delay,
Khruangbin,
The Gap Band,
Rod Modell,
Sarah Menescal,
Moss Icon,
Magma,
Black Sheep,
EPMD,
Johnny Osbourne,
Funky Four + One,
Mission of Burma,
T.S.O.L.,
cv313,
Joensuu 1685,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Matthew Bourne,
Radio Birdman,
Unrelated Segments,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Unwound,
John Foxx,
Ultimate Spinach,
LL Cool J,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Remains,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Young Rascals,
Agitation Free,
Black Moon,
Outsiders,
Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four.
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.