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 Haiti and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 güiro 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 Public Enemy to the techno 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Nik Kershaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Massinfluence record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pole record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Terrestrial Tones,
Zero Boys,
Albert Ayler,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Joy Division,
Sound Behaviour,
Depeche Mode,
Ronnie Foster,
Y Pants,
The Gories,
Soft Machine,
Arcadia,
Shuggie Otis,
Pussy Galore,
The Durutti Column,
Skarface,
Yazoo,
Peter and Kerry,
Sonny Sharrock,
David Axelrod,
Malaria!,
Robert Hood,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
8 Eyed Spy,
The American Breed,
Josef K,
Camouflage,
Marvin Gaye,
The Count Five,
The Birthday Party,
The Beau Brummels,
The Happenings,
the Sonics,
The Remains,
The Trojans,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ohio Players,
Byron Stingily,
Faust,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bang On A Can,
Kayak,
Johnny Clarke,
Kerri Chandler,
Bush Tetras,
Goldenarms,
Eric Dolphy,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Skatalites,
Jesper Dahlback,
Harpers Bizarre,
Aswad,
the Bar-Kays,
The Searchers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Dennis Brown,
Ossler,
Scan 7,
Zapp, Zapp, Zapp, Zapp.
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.