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 Tonga and from Manila.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe 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 Fifty Foot Hose to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ralphi Rosario record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spandau Ballet,
Faust,
Carl Craig,
The New Christs,
Fela Kuti,
Flipper,
Cal Tjader,
PIL,
Eric B and Rakim,
Big Daddy Kane,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Pretty Things,
Harpers Bizarre,
Tommy Roe,
Ponytail,
Josef K,
Cheater Slicks,
the Germs,
Slick Rick,
Hardrive,
The Residents,
Con Funk Shun,
Yazoo,
Marine Girls,
London Community Gospel Choir,
June Days,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Last Poets,
The Index,
The Trojans,
Junior Murvin,
Television Personalities,
The Names,
Girls At Our Best!,
Ornette Coleman,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Visage,
The Blackbyrds,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Radiopuhelimet,
Loose Ends,
Ultra Naté,
Curtis Mayfield,
Toni Rubio,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Howard Jones,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sparks,
Tomorrow,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ultimate Spinach,
Davy DMX,
Erykah Badu,
Half Japanese,
Whodini,
The Real Kids,
John Lydon,
This Heat,
Sly & The Family Stone,
New Age Steppers,
Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux.
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.