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 Ukraine and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 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 Gang of Four to the rock 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 Scan 7. All the underground hits.
All Ajijia Myrayebe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wasted Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doors record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Arcadia,
Thee Headcoats,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Pretty Things,
Hasil Adkins,
The Monks,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Surgeon,
Bob Dylan,
The Remains,
Easy Going,
Aural Exciters,
D'Angelo,
Wings,
Sound Behaviour,
Stereo Dub,
Von Mondo,
Lindisfarne,
Lungfish,
The Zeros,
Marvin Gaye,
Mo-Dettes,
Scratch Acid,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Dawn Penn,
Sonny Sharrock,
John Holt,
The United States of America,
Ornette Coleman,
Black Bananas,
David McCallum,
Marcia Griffiths,
Cheater Slicks,
Khruangbin,
Bang On A Can,
Stetsasonic,
Funkadelic,
Minutemen,
The Kinks,
Jacob Miller,
Joe Smooth,
Kayak,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Flash Fearless,
Mr. Review,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Yazoo,
Fat Boys,
Tomorrow,
Marine Girls,
The Gap Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Niagra,
Sun Ra,
Bauhaus,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance.
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.