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 Brazil and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Todd Rundgren to the funk 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 Pere Ubu. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stetsasonic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Faraquet,
Ludus,
Nas,
Joy Division,
The Modern Lovers,
Eddi Front,
Marvin Gaye,
The Grass Roots,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Arthur Verocai,
The Remains,
Gang Starr,
World's Most,
Cecil Taylor,
MDC,
48th St. Collective,
Scott Walker,
The Offenders,
Anthony Braxton,
Judy Mowatt,
Michelle Simonal,
The Index,
The Raincoats,
Johnny Clarke,
A Certain Ratio,
X-101,
John Coltrane,
Camouflage,
Wasted Youth,
Robert Wyatt,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bronski Beat,
Byron Stingily,
Thompson Twins,
Au Pairs,
The Mummies,
Crooked Eye,
Bang On A Can,
Country Teasers,
Avey Tare,
Audionom,
Harpers Bizarre,
Pulsallama,
Swell Maps,
The New Christs,
Aloha Tigers,
Animal Collective,
Sonic Youth,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Second Layer,
Lalann,
Alphaville,
Bob Dylan,
D'Angelo,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Shadows of Knight,
Dual Sessions,
Neil Young,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.