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 Cameroon and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 chamberlin 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 Main Source to the disco 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 Sound. All the underground hits.
All Malaria! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Vogues record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Durutti Column record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Peter & Gordon,
Audionom,
Bang On A Can,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Babytalk,
Mandrill,
Fluxion,
Inner City,
Barrington Levy,
Arthur Verocai,
Erykah Badu,
U.S. Maple,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
K-Klass,
The Last Poets,
Maleditus Sound,
Terrestrial Tones,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Wally Richardson,
Los Fastidios,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tubeway Army,
Hot Snakes,
Swell Maps,
Bush Tetras,
The Sound,
Graham Central Station,
L. Decosne,
The Buckinghams,
Angry Samoans,
Alton Ellis,
Matthew Halsall,
The Beau Brummels,
Chris & Cosey,
The Moody Blues,
Section 25,
Robert Hood,
Dead Boys,
Franke,
Letta Mbulu,
The American Breed,
Groovy Waters,
Ultra Naté,
Surgeon,
Johnny Clarke,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Skaos,
Fat Boys,
A Certain Ratio,
Slick Rick,
Rapeman,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Faust,
Livin' Joy,
Stockholm Monsters,
Yellowson,
The Gun Club,
cv313,
Darondo,
Davy DMX,
Gang Starr,
Black Moon,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.