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 Mozambique and from Hong Kong.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Los Fastidios to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bobby Womack. All the underground hits.
All Anakelly tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
The Busters,
The Detroit Cobras,
Cal Tjader,
New Order,
Parry Music,
Cybotron,
Marshall Jefferson,
Panda Bear,
Brick,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Zapp,
Deakin,
Funkadelic,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Malaria!,
Ludus,
The Names,
Soul Sonic Force,
Boredoms,
the Germs,
Pet Shop Boys,
Unrelated Segments,
Erykah Badu,
Minnie Riperton,
Roy Ayers,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Crispy Ambulance,
John Holt,
Agitation Free,
Lower 48,
Swell Maps,
Mission of Burma,
Graham Central Station,
The Barracudas,
The Motions,
Model 500,
MDC,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Audionom,
The Victims,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bang On A Can,
Youth Brigade,
Donny Hathaway,
Icehouse,
The Offenders,
Jeff Mills,
Beasts of Bourbon,
H. Thieme,
The Mojo Men,
MC5,
Pagans,
DJ Sneak,
Connie Case,
Robert Wyatt,
The Moleskins,
Idris Muhammad,
Can,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.