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 Dominican Republic and from Seoul.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Soulsonic Force to the grime 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 Camberwell Now. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television Personalities,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sight & Sound,
F. McDonald,
LL Cool J,
John Holt,
Harmonia,
Marc Almond,
Nik Kershaw,
Black Bananas,
Dead Boys,
Dark Day,
Quadrant,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Grass Roots,
Bush Tetras,
Con Funk Shun,
The Durutti Column,
Stetsasonic,
10cc,
Hardrive,
Oblivians,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Judy Mowatt,
Clear Light,
Bill Wells,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Litter,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Tomorrow,
Niagra,
Sam Rivers,
Throbbing Gristle,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Public Image Ltd.,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Organ,
Max Romeo,
Crispy Ambulance,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Standells,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Sun Ra,
Radiohead,
Procol Harum,
OOIOO,
Don Cherry,
Fad Gadget,
The Cosmic Jokers,
David Bowie,
Talk Talk,
Scrapy,
Tim Buckley,
Jeff Mills,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lindisfarne,
The Beau Brummels,
The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues.
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.