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 Luxembourg and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 snare 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 Sun Ra Arkestra 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 Little Man. All the underground hits.
All Second Layer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tubeway Army record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boz Scaggs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Surgeon,
Pulsallama,
Interpol,
Ultravox,
Alton Ellis,
Soul II Soul,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Arab on Radar,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Bluetip,
Laurel Aitken,
The Moleskins,
Scion,
The Fuzztones,
Basic Channel,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Todd Terry,
EPMD,
The Evens,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lou Reed,
Tomorrow,
Ultra Naté,
Peter and Kerry,
Derrick Morgan,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Matthew Halsall,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Cheater Slicks,
Theoretical Girls,
Terrestrial Tones,
Harmonia,
Moss Icon,
Cecil Taylor,
Electric Prunes,
Aural Exciters,
Spoonie Gee,
10cc,
Fugazi,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Suicide,
Severed Heads,
Eli Mardock,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Misunderstood,
Minor Threat,
Lindisfarne,
The Monochrome Set,
Inner City,
Radiohead,
Lyres,
Man Eating Sloth,
Joe Finger,
Black Bananas,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Blancmange,
Jeru the Damaja,
Oneida,
AZ,
Monolake,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.