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 Fiji and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare 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 Kerrie Biddell 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 Kevin Saunderson. All the underground hits.
All Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shuggie Otis 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ice-T,
The Shadows of Knight,
Zero Boys,
The Mojo Men,
The Slits,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Basic Channel,
Carl Craig,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Moby Grape,
Yusef Lateef,
X-101,
The Techniques,
Television,
Q and Not U,
Mark Hollis,
Brothers Johnson,
Amon Düül II,
Bang On A Can,
Marmalade,
Alton Ellis,
Theoretical Girls,
Archie Shepp,
The Angels of Light,
The Evens,
Anthony Braxton,
Jacques Brel,
Rosa Yemen,
Blake Baxter,
Bob Dylan,
The United States of America,
The Durutti Column,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Terrestrial Tones,
Jacob Miller,
Second Layer,
Motorama,
The Star Department,
Alphaville,
Morten Harket,
Yazoo,
The Cure,
Bizarre Inc.,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Grass Roots,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Zeros,
The Young Rascals,
Sixth Finger,
The Offenders,
Visage,
Warren Ellis,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Tres Demented,
Fad Gadget,
Nico,
The Sonics,
Eden Ahbez,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Agent Orange,
Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone.
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.