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 Benin and from Bremen.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Fuzztones to the grunge 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 Ronan. All the underground hits.
All Urselle tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Altered Images record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sparks,
Circle Jerks,
Sight & Sound,
Cecil Taylor,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Unrelated Segments,
DJ Style,
David Axelrod,
Deadbeat,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Desert Stars,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Stetsasonic,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Basic Channel,
Camberwell Now,
Davy DMX,
Lungfish,
Jacques Brel,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Byron Stingily,
Animal Collective,
Radio Birdman,
Rhythm & Sound,
Symarip,
This Heat,
The Buckinghams,
Erykah Badu,
Los Fastidios,
Nik Kershaw,
Skriet,
Grandmaster Flash,
Marmalade,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Kinks,
Nas,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Flash Fearless,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Slick Rick,
Joy Division,
Warren Ellis,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Robert Wyatt,
Matthew Bourne,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Barbara Tucker,
The Slackers,
Lakeside,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Maleditus Sound,
The Neon Judgement,
Franke, Franke, Franke, Franke.
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.