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 Bhutan 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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Minnie Riperton to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Golliwogs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Silicon Teens,
Procol Harum,
Public Enemy,
Dave Gahan,
Black Flag,
The Kinks,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Wake,
X-Ray Spex,
Soft Cell,
Marcia Griffiths,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Ponytail,
Dorothy Ashby,
Mr. Review,
Nils Olav,
Intrusion,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Matthew Bourne,
The Victims,
Peter and Kerry,
Agitation Free,
Carl Craig,
Trumans Water,
Moss Icon,
Johnny Osbourne,
Faust,
Morten Harket,
Accadde A,
Colin Newman,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Godley & Creme,
Khruangbin,
Man Parrish,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Juan Atkins,
Crooked Eye,
The Pretty Things,
Eric Copeland,
Soul II Soul,
The Litter,
Desert Stars,
The Barracudas,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bush Tetras,
Fort Wilson Riot,
John Foxx,
Mission of Burma,
the Bar-Kays,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nas,
Delon & Dalcan,
Rakim,
Aural Exciters,
Derrick Morgan,
Crispian St. Peters,
Kayak,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Yusef Lateef,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Second Layer,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.