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 Columbus.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Boredoms to the funk 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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deadbeat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Gil Scott Heron,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
John Holt,
Scion,
Blancmange,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
China Crisis,
Goldenarms,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lower 48,
Depeche Mode,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Birthday Party,
Crooked Eye,
Scratch Acid,
Chris & Cosey,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Happenings,
The Victims,
Tropical Tobacco,
Harmonia,
Radiopuhelimet,
Don Cherry,
Yazoo,
The Last Poets,
Stiv Bators,
Make Up,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Young Marble Giants,
Joensuu 1685,
The Mummies,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Toasters,
Youth Brigade,
Barrington Levy,
Grandmaster Flash,
Malaria!,
Fad Gadget,
Avey Tare,
Tears for Fears,
Fatback Band,
Vainqueur,
Minnie Riperton,
Lalann,
The Busters,
Fela Kuti,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Mad Mike,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Adolescents,
Desert Stars,
Hashim,
Kenny Larkin,
The Young Rascals,
Charles Mingus,
Brass Construction,
Sex Pistols,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.