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 Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Taipei.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Smoke to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Davy DMX 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
L. Decosne,
Delta 5,
Half Japanese,
Urselle,
D'Angelo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Main Source,
The Dave Clark Five,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
the Normal,
Minor Threat,
Nation of Ulysses,
Amazonics,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Marshall Jefferson,
Inner City,
A Certain Ratio,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gong,
Man Eating Sloth,
Rapeman,
Joy Division,
Toni Rubio,
Pole,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gang of Four,
Mission of Burma,
Underground Resistance,
Alison Limerick,
Eric Copeland,
Pussy Galore,
Crispy Ambulance,
Loose Ends,
The Dead C,
Dennis Brown,
Andrew Hill,
Tropical Tobacco,
Public Enemy,
Roxy Music,
Mantronix,
John Holt,
Mr. Review,
Television Personalities,
The Sound,
the Bar-Kays,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Angry Samoans,
Skaos,
The Happenings,
New Age Steppers,
Outsiders,
CMW,
Blancmange,
Blossom Toes,
Hashim,
Quantec,
Masters at Work,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Gories,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Public Image Ltd.,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.