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 Niger and from Lagos.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 F. McDonald to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Franke. All the underground hits.
All Pussy Galore tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sandy B 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Dave Clark Five,
In Retrospect,
Faust,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ice-T,
Brand Nubian,
MDC,
The Mojo Men,
Essential Logic,
Sex Pistols,
David McCallum,
Nico,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Fatback Band,
Smog,
Tres Demented,
The Litter,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Kerrie Biddell,
Donny Hathaway,
Minnie Riperton,
The Knickerbockers,
The Walker Brothers,
Sugar Minott,
Althea and Donna,
Audionom,
Gang Green,
Crooked Eye,
Eddi Front,
Urselle,
Scrapy,
D'Angelo,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Y Pants,
Lou Christie,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kenny Larkin,
Idris Muhammad,
the Slits,
The Dirtbombs,
Suburban Knight,
Chris Corsano,
the Human League,
Public Image Ltd.,
Al Stewart,
Bush Tetras,
The Moody Blues,
Bob Dylan,
Theoretical Girls,
Visage,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Monks,
Kas Product,
The Alarm Clocks,
Franke,
Deepchord,
The Slits,
UT,
Clear Light,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.