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 Germany and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 The Zeros to the rock 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 Kango’s Stein Massive. All the underground hits.
All London Community Gospel Choir tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boogie Down Productions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
Robert Wyatt,
Severed Heads,
Ituana,
Silicon Teens,
Howard Jones,
Sister Nancy,
The Last Poets,
Drexciya,
Eric B and Rakim,
Unwound,
Hashim,
UT,
Saccharine Trust,
Kerri Chandler,
Sandy B,
Cybotron,
Joyce Sims,
Young Marble Giants,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
David Bowie,
The Black Dice,
Stiv Bators,
Charles Mingus,
Tomorrow,
Sun Ra,
The Misunderstood,
Smog,
New Age Steppers,
Josef K,
Rapeman,
Brothers Johnson,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Doors,
The Gories,
Bronski Beat,
Desert Stars,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Gladiators,
Organ,
Gang Starr,
Heaven 17,
Cecil Taylor,
B.T. Express,
Khruangbin,
Cluster,
Eric Copeland,
Grey Daturas,
PIL,
Nik Kershaw,
Alice Coltrane,
In Retrospect,
Archie Shepp,
Frankie Knuckles,
Groovy Waters,
Guru Guru,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
X-102,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.