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 Eritrea and from Bologna.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Yellowson to the grunge 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker + Sunn O))) tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arab on Radar,
Spoonie Gee,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Slits,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Arthur Verocai,
Negative Approach,
Duran Duran,
Au Pairs,
Reuben Wilson,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Quando Quango,
The American Breed,
Derrick May,
Simply Red,
The Motions,
Motorama,
Bang On A Can,
Glenn Branca,
The Angels of Light,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Drexciya,
Rakim,
Zero Boys,
Dawn Penn,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Cymande,
Barbara Tucker,
Black Moon,
Sexual Harrassment,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Section 25,
EPMD,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Birthday Party,
John Cale,
Camberwell Now,
Grey Daturas,
The Mummies,
The Monochrome Set,
The Evens,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Cluster,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Can,
Second Layer,
Scott Walker,
Bobby Sherman,
Neil Young,
Harmonia,
Lakeside,
Derrick Morgan,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Nas,
Jeff Mills,
Marcia Griffiths,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Babytalk,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.