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 Poland and from Tehran.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Holger Czukay 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 John Coltrane to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doobie Brothers 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Curtis Mayfield record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blues Magoos,
Babytalk,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
cv313,
Sex Pistols,
The Monks,
UT,
Crime,
Charles Mingus,
World's Most,
Magazine,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ice-T,
One Last Wish,
Faust,
China Crisis,
James White and The Blacks,
MC5,
Todd Rundgren,
The Durutti Column,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Slits,
The Cure,
The Monochrome Set,
Sonic Youth,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Mojo Men,
Radio Birdman,
Bronski Beat,
Vainqueur,
Spoonie Gee,
E-Dancer,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Dead C,
Can,
8 Eyed Spy,
Jacques Brel,
Junior Murvin,
Slave,
A Certain Ratio,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Black Dice,
Loose Ends,
Rhythm & Sound,
Young Marble Giants,
Kerrie Biddell,
Basic Channel,
Franke,
X-Ray Spex,
Fugazi,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Robert Hood,
Dead Boys,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
K-Klass,
Hot Snakes,
Chrome,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.