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 Mexico and from Portland.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Seoul.
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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 kango's stein massive to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Barbara Tucker. All the underground hits.
All La Düsseldorf tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
Aural Exciters,
The Monks,
Saccharine Trust,
Unwound,
Youth Brigade,
L. Decosne,
Talk Talk,
The Monochrome Set,
The Cowsills,
Banda Bassotti,
Scrapy,
The Zeros,
MC5,
Idris Muhammad,
the Germs,
Soul Sonic Force,
Dennis Brown,
Ultimate Spinach,
X-Ray Spex,
Sun City Girls,
Gregory Isaacs,
the Bar-Kays,
Radiohead,
Freddie Wadling,
Mark Hollis,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Gabor Szabo,
Minnie Riperton,
Leonard Cohen,
Joey Negro,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Cal Tjader,
Neil Young,
Arab on Radar,
Jacob Miller,
Masters at Work,
Das Ding,
The Blues Magoos,
This Heat,
Jerry's Kids,
Deakin,
Basic Channel,
The Raincoats,
Outsiders,
The Dead C,
Cluster,
The J.B.'s,
Tres Demented,
Drexciya,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Wake,
Trumans Water,
Funkadelic,
Sam Rivers,
Thee Headcoats,
Flipper,
La Düsseldorf,
Crispy Ambulance,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Velvet Underground,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.