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 Sudan and from Beijing.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Litter to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dirtbombs,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ultra Naté,
Camberwell Now,
Nation of Ulysses,
Shuggie Otis,
Leonard Cohen,
The Cowsills,
The Sonics,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Barbara Tucker,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Piero Umiliani,
Roxette,
Saccharine Trust,
Lungfish,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Swell Maps,
Kool Moe Dee,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jacques Brel,
The Golliwogs,
Terry Callier,
Technova,
The Dave Clark Five,
Soul II Soul,
Mary Jane Girls,
Dorothy Ashby,
Unrelated Segments,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Eden Ahbez,
The J.B.'s,
The Smiths,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Godley & Creme,
EPMD,
Skriet,
E-Dancer,
Agent Orange,
The Leaves,
Khruangbin,
Gang Starr,
Todd Terry,
The Motions,
David Axelrod,
Derrick Morgan,
Section 25,
John Lydon,
The Five Americans,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sexual Harrassment,
Infiniti,
OOIOO,
Monolake,
The Mummies,
Avey Tare,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Stereo Dub,
These Immortal Souls,
Angry Samoans,
Amazonics,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.