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 Armenia and from Tokyo.
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 Calgary and Shanghai.
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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lucky Dragons to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Carl Craig record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Green,
Visage,
Khruangbin,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Severed Heads,
Kurtis Blow,
Rekid,
Rufus Thomas,
Avey Tare,
the Human League,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Fire Engines,
kango's stein massive,
Throbbing Gristle,
Blake Baxter,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Model 500,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Pere Ubu,
Soulsonic Force,
One Last Wish,
Bronski Beat,
Joe Smooth,
Gang of Four,
Schoolly D,
Deakin,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Iggy Pop,
the Bar-Kays,
Moss Icon,
David McCallum,
The Wake,
Franke,
Lindisfarne,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Count Five,
The Golliwogs,
Man Eating Sloth,
Marine Girls,
Kevin Saunderson,
Peter and Kerry,
Henry Cow,
Japan,
Reagan Youth,
The Selecter,
DJ Sneak,
The Black Dice,
Malaria!,
Swell Maps,
The Index,
Duran Duran,
Letta Mbulu,
Albert Ayler,
The Doobie Brothers,
Babytalk,
Yellowson,
The Flesh Eaters,
Tres Demented,
Wasted Youth,
Sandy B,
Ituana, Ituana, Ituana, Ituana.
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.