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 Mauritius and from Bologna.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Holger Czukay 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 Flipper to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Byrd,
Tres Demented,
Alton Ellis,
Gregory Isaacs,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Altered Images,
Duran Duran,
Bronski Beat,
Marine Girls,
Silicon Teens,
The Martian,
Nico,
Faraquet,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Jawbox,
Connie Case,
Marc Almond,
Glenn Branca,
Hashim,
Junior Murvin,
Aswad,
The Toasters,
Niagra,
The American Breed,
Quando Quango,
The Vogues,
David McCallum,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nirvana,
Stockholm Monsters,
Icehouse,
Soul Sonic Force,
Skarface,
Severed Heads,
Lalann,
The Associates,
Smog,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Fad Gadget,
Matthew Bourne,
Ludus,
Flash Fearless,
EPMD,
John Lydon,
Bad Manners,
Pantytec,
Sun City Girls,
Rosa Yemen,
Bill Near,
Chrome,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Star Department,
Yellowson,
Black Moon,
Soft Cell,
Pierre Henry,
Gichy Dan,
Ornette Coleman,
Patti Smith,
Gabor Szabo,
Unwound,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.