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 Czech Republic and from Spokane.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lower 48 to the rap 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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool Moe Dee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
The Invisible,
Marvin Gaye,
The Move,
Arab on Radar,
Kas Product,
The Dirtbombs,
John Lydon,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Aloha Tigers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
CMW,
Yellowson,
Sandy B,
The Last Poets,
The Sonics,
The Neon Judgement,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Index,
The Residents,
Barbara Tucker,
The Human League,
Moebius,
Soul II Soul,
Swell Maps,
Urselle,
The Doors,
The Birthday Party,
The Associates,
The Slits,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Neu!,
Skriet,
Piero Umiliani,
Connie Case,
Glambeats Corp.,
E-Dancer,
Motorama,
Stiv Bators,
Robert Hood,
The Pretty Things,
Masters at Work,
Delon & Dalcan,
Nils Olav,
Derrick May,
Theoretical Girls,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Erykah Badu,
Pole,
Warsaw,
Scion,
World's Most,
Deakin,
Sister Nancy,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Cecil Taylor,
Unrelated Segments,
Black Bananas,
Mantronix,
Harpers Bizarre,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.