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 Panama and from Mumbai.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manchester.
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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Porter Ricks to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection 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 an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
Jandek,
Rekid,
The Human League,
Sixth Finger,
Ralphi Rosario,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Andrew Hill,
Popol Vuh,
Brick,
The United States of America,
Toni Rubio,
A Certain Ratio,
Skaos,
Gil Scott Heron,
Idris Muhammad,
Kurtis Blow,
Big Daddy Kane,
Tears for Fears,
MC5,
Harry Pussy,
Simply Red,
Half Japanese,
Nils Olav,
D'Angelo,
Eddi Front,
Funkadelic,
Sonny Sharrock,
Blancmange,
Roger Hodgson,
The Slackers,
ABC,
The Star Department,
Howard Jones,
The Move,
The Doobie Brothers,
Barrington Levy,
Can,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Eric Copeland,
Country Joe & The Fish,
X-Ray Spex,
La Düsseldorf,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Morten Harket,
Derrick Morgan,
Bill Near,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Iggy Pop,
Albert Ayler,
Peter & Gordon,
the Human League,
Theoretical Girls,
Swans,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Stockholm Monsters,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Dave Clark Five,
Mark Hollis,
Youth Brigade,
Circle Jerks,
Parry Music,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic.
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.