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 Latvia and from Delhi.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Mumbai.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Flamin' Groovies to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Zeros. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Talk Talk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gap Band,
Lebanon Hanover,
Clear Light,
Gang Starr,
Donald Byrd,
Hardrive,
The Monks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sun Ra,
Pet Shop Boys,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Hasil Adkins,
Drexciya,
Make Up,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Pantaleimon,
Bush Tetras,
Little Man,
World's Most,
The Doors,
Curtis Mayfield,
Archie Shepp,
Girls At Our Best!,
Franke,
Popol Vuh,
Boogie Down Productions,
Toni Rubio,
Khruangbin,
The Fire Engines,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Count Five,
Loose Ends,
Aural Exciters,
Cecil Taylor,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Sexual Harrassment,
Jeru the Damaja,
Malaria!,
Anakelly,
the Association,
D'Angelo,
Scientists,
Supertramp,
Amon Düül II,
Harmonia,
Agitation Free,
Sam Rivers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Q65,
Jesper Dahlback,
Stetsasonic,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Doobie Brothers,
Grandmaster Flash,
Black Sheep,
Amon Düül,
Neu!,
Johnny Clarke,
Accadde A,
Nick Fraelich,
The Smoke,
The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C.
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.