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 East Timor and from Accra.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Red Krayola to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Sonic Youth. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faraquet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
10cc,
Yusef Lateef,
Gregory Isaacs,
Cecil Taylor,
the Slits,
Royal Trux,
PIL,
Joensuu 1685,
Quadrant,
Idris Muhammad,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Walker Brothers,
Gong,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sex Pistols,
Urselle,
The Leaves,
The Saints,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
John Lydon,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Fluxion,
Rufus Thomas,
Matthew Halsall,
This Heat,
Hashim,
Sonic Youth,
Underground Resistance,
a-ha,
Joe Smooth,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Skriet,
Motorama,
Letta Mbulu,
Davy DMX,
Harry Pussy,
Chris & Cosey,
Nik Kershaw,
Charles Mingus,
The Techniques,
Patti Smith,
The Wake,
Can,
Jacob Miller,
Au Pairs,
Gang of Four,
Crime,
Throbbing Gristle,
Marshall Jefferson,
Sexual Harrassment,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Crooked Eye,
Intrusion,
The Monochrome Set,
Drexciya,
Laurel Aitken,
Robert Wyatt,
Michelle Simonal,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Beau Brummels,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.