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 Kazakhstan 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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 sitar 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 Funkadelic to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Gastr Del Sol. All the underground hits.
All Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stockholm Monsters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Parry Music record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Soft Cell,
The Trojans,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Happenings,
Al Stewart,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Vainqueur,
Crash Course in Science,
Panda Bear,
The Human League,
The Associates,
Crooked Eye,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
U.S. Maple,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Groovy Waters,
Brand Nubian,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Negative Approach,
Pere Ubu,
Roxy Music,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
X-Ray Spex,
JFA,
Spandau Ballet,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Swell Maps,
Television Personalities,
The Evens,
Pulsallama,
Mandrill,
EPMD,
the Fania All-Stars,
Circle Jerks,
Cheater Slicks,
Deakin,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Velvet Underground,
Derrick May,
Electric Prunes,
James White and The Blacks,
Cecil Taylor,
Supertramp,
Cal Tjader,
Agent Orange,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Soft Machine,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ultra Naté,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Dirtbombs,
Byron Stingily,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Peter and Kerry,
The Cowsills,
Ken Boothe,
Black Bananas,
Albert Ayler,
MDC,
Kevin Saunderson,
A Flock of Seagulls,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.