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 Burkina and from Paris.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Taipei.
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 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 Patti Smith to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skarface record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Negative Approach,
Pagans,
Desert Stars,
Au Pairs,
Matthew Halsall,
Joy Division,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Junior Murvin,
Y Pants,
Skarface,
Warsaw,
Steve Hackett,
The Toasters,
Grandmaster Flash,
Symarip,
Basic Channel,
Popol Vuh,
Q and Not U,
Kaleidoscope,
Bush Tetras,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Khruangbin,
The Pretty Things,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Eddi Front,
John Holt,
Joey Negro,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Ohio Players,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Red Krayola,
Banda Bassotti,
Subhumans,
Clear Light,
Mantronix,
cv313,
Pole,
The Tremeloes,
Zapp,
Brick,
Scrapy,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Dual Sessions,
Roy Ayers,
Stereo Dub,
The Techniques,
Bobby Womack,
Dawn Penn,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Velvet Underground,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ken Boothe,
Crispy Ambulance,
Organ,
Average White Band,
Royal Trux,
Sonny Sharrock,
Kevin Saunderson,
Juan Atkins,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.