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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Johannesburg.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Unrelated Segments to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mojo Men record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moleskins,
China Crisis,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Throbbing Gristle,
Yaz,
Whodini,
One Last Wish,
Warsaw,
Panda Bear,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Harmonia,
The Fall,
The Remains,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
X-101,
The Mojo Men,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Arcadia,
Infiniti,
Crash Course in Science,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Magma,
Jacob Miller,
Dave Gahan,
Barry Ungar,
Radiohead,
The Grass Roots,
Minor Threat,
Ludus,
These Immortal Souls,
The Leaves,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Jeff Mills,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Lou Reed,
The Index,
Matthew Bourne,
New Age Steppers,
Subhumans,
Japan,
Hoover,
Guru Guru,
Stetsasonic,
Donald Byrd,
Nils Olav,
The Sound,
Supertramp,
New York Dolls,
Alice Coltrane,
Blancmange,
Spoonie Gee,
Saccharine Trust,
David Bowie,
AZ,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Knickerbockers,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rapeman,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sun Ra,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.