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 Iceland and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 ABC to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Connie Case 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
UT,
New Age Steppers,
Ituana,
Jacques Brel,
Johnny Clarke,
Minor Threat,
the Soft Cell,
MC5,
Swans,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Crash Course in Science,
Sight & Sound,
Parry Music,
Main Source,
Reuben Wilson,
Icehouse,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The New Christs,
Charles Mingus,
Barbara Tucker,
Nas,
David Bowie,
Schoolly D,
Alphaville,
Rosa Yemen,
The Mummies,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Rotary Connection,
Tom Boy,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Joensuu 1685,
Ohio Players,
Todd Terry,
The Leaves,
The Birthday Party,
Lou Reed,
PIL,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Cramps,
DJ Style,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Vladislav Delay,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Index,
The Remains,
Wasted Youth,
Altered Images,
48th St. Collective,
Dennis Brown,
Organ,
The Blackbyrds,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Black Pus,
Hot Snakes,
Popol Vuh,
Subhumans,
the Bar-Kays,
The United States of America,
Nirvana,
Pylon, Pylon, Pylon, Pylon.
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.