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 Samoa and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Robert Görl to the grime 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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Halsall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yusef Lateef record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
Morten Harket,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
a-ha,
Kerri Chandler,
The Blackbyrds,
Bluetip,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eddi Front,
Slick Rick,
Can,
Adolescents,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Arab on Radar,
Simply Red,
The Dave Clark Five,
Erykah Badu,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Funky Four + One,
Saccharine Trust,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
New York Dolls,
48th St. Collective,
Royal Trux,
Index,
David Axelrod,
The Leaves,
Cecil Taylor,
Todd Terry,
the Swans,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Quadrant,
The Count Five,
The Pretty Things,
Tears for Fears,
Archie Shepp,
Maleditus Sound,
Fluxion,
Popol Vuh,
Q65,
The Motions,
Unwound,
Lower 48,
Henry Cow,
Brand Nubian,
the Slits,
The Five Americans,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Avey Tare,
Nation of Ulysses,
Average White Band,
Idris Muhammad,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Kas Product,
Agitation Free,
Unrelated Segments,
The Raincoats,
Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood.
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.