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 Kenya and from Jakarta.
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 Edmonton and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sixth Finger to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Crime,
Absolute Body Control,
Brick,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Neon Judgement,
Henry Cow,
Young Marble Giants,
Boz Scaggs,
Cecil Taylor,
Gil Scott Heron,
Groovy Waters,
The Gladiators,
Man Parrish,
The Human League,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Neil Young,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Swell Maps,
Rites of Spring,
Nils Olav,
Kerri Chandler,
Kurtis Blow,
Con Funk Shun,
Bobby Womack,
Grauzone,
The Misunderstood,
Rapeman,
The Mummies,
Moby Grape,
Albert Ayler,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pantaleimon,
Qualms,
Nick Fraelich,
Traffic Nightmare,
Freddie Wadling,
Stockholm Monsters,
Don Cherry,
Byron Stingily,
Nirvana,
The Blackbyrds,
The Black Dice,
The Saints,
The Searchers,
MDC,
Intrusion,
DNA,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
B.T. Express,
Amazonics,
Wire,
The United States of America,
James White and The Blacks,
Minnie Riperton,
Flipper,
Faraquet,
The Mojo Men,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.