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 St Lucia and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Litter to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All The Shadows of Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Maleditus Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalo Schifrin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kas Product,
Deadbeat,
Half Japanese,
Model 500,
James White and The Blacks,
Robert Wyatt,
Donald Byrd,
The Saints,
The Slackers,
DJ Sneak,
Gang Gang Dance,
The American Breed,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Scratch Acid,
Panda Bear,
Masters at Work,
Alice Coltrane,
the Fania All-Stars,
Joe Smooth,
Brothers Johnson,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Stereo Dub,
Black Moon,
Graham Central Station,
Boogie Down Productions,
Amon Düül II,
Girls At Our Best!,
Metal Thangz,
Pere Ubu,
Nation of Ulysses,
La Düsseldorf,
Main Source,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Radiopuhelimet,
Smog,
Skarface,
The Sonics,
Animal Collective,
Steve Hackett,
Scott Walker,
Swell Maps,
Joy Division,
Blake Baxter,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Human League,
Moss Icon,
Ornette Coleman,
Aural Exciters,
Interpol,
Ohio Players,
Pagans,
Porter Ricks,
Matthew Halsall,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Little Man,
Wally Richardson,
Hashim,
New Age Steppers,
Lou Reed,
Sällskapet, Sällskapet, Sällskapet, Sällskapet.
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.