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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Swans to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All U.S. Maple tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiohead 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 an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arab on Radar,
Ossler,
Grandmaster Flash,
Roger Hodgson,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Aswad,
Chrome,
Crispy Ambulance,
Soulsonic Force,
The Gories,
Susan Cadogan,
Sixth Finger,
Loose Ends,
Visage,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Y Pants,
The Associates,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Carl Craig,
Yaz,
The Fuzztones,
Procol Harum,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tom Boy,
The Toasters,
Toni Rubio,
Donny Hathaway,
The Count Five,
Sonic Youth,
DNA,
Bauhaus,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Busters,
Scrapy,
Deepchord,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Newcleus,
Robert Hood,
Deadbeat,
Graham Central Station,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Popol Vuh,
Swell Maps,
Iggy Pop,
Stetsasonic,
Barclay James Harvest,
Yusef Lateef,
Desert Stars,
the Slits,
The Fortunes,
Deakin,
Agitation Free,
Maurizio,
Los Fastidios,
ABC,
Lightning Bolt,
Warren Ellis,
Tubeway Army,
Cheater Slicks,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey.
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.