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 France and from Manchester.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Kenny Larkin to the jazz 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 Ken Boothe. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bush Tetras 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skaos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arab on Radar,
Babytalk,
Bush Tetras,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bobbi Humphrey,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Human League,
Funkadelic,
Wire,
The Seeds,
Black Sheep,
The Gories,
The United States of America,
Model 500,
Hot Snakes,
Derrick Morgan,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sight & Sound,
Alice Coltrane,
Dennis Brown,
Colin Newman,
Rhythm & Sound,
Robert Wyatt,
Fad Gadget,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
China Crisis,
Chris & Cosey,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Brick,
Mission of Burma,
Khruangbin,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Can,
The Standells,
Guru Guru,
Michelle Simonal,
Nils Olav,
Lakeside,
Gang Green,
Minnie Riperton,
Schoolly D,
Minutemen,
Dark Day,
Connie Case,
Bluetip,
Stetsasonic,
Marmalade,
Ituana,
Excepter,
Eric B and Rakim,
Stockholm Monsters,
Jeff Mills,
Suicide,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Mummies,
Joey Negro,
The Saints,
The Litter,
This Heat,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.