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 Malta and from New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Freddie Wadling to the grime 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 The Grass Roots. All the underground hits.
All The Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every cv313 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wasted Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Toni Rubio,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Echospace,
John Foxx,
Gang Green,
X-102,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Derrick May,
Nas,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Iggy Pop,
Judy Mowatt,
Liliput,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Thee Headcoats,
The Monochrome Set,
Roxy Music,
Bang On A Can,
Alison Limerick,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Loose Ends,
Yusef Lateef,
Harmonia,
a-ha,
Matthew Bourne,
Desert Stars,
Dennis Brown,
L. Decosne,
B.T. Express,
The Flesh Eaters,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ponytail,
K-Klass,
Marine Girls,
Eden Ahbez,
Urselle,
The Buckinghams,
London Community Gospel Choir,
R.M.O.,
Johnny Osbourne,
Skriet,
Accadde A,
Michelle Simonal,
Aswad,
Jawbox,
Zapp,
The Residents,
Sarah Menescal,
Barrington Levy,
Heaven 17,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Average White Band,
The Velvet Underground,
Cameo,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Dawn Penn,
Donny Hathaway,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Searchers,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.