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 Senegal and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Judy Mowatt to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ponytail record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Moleskins,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Zapp,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Wings,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Negative Approach,
Man Eating Sloth,
Stiv Bators,
The Black Dice,
R.M.O.,
Bill Wells,
Ludus,
Outsiders,
The Pop Group,
Half Japanese,
New Age Steppers,
The Gladiators,
Wolf Eyes,
Alison Limerick,
Joyce Sims,
Cybotron,
Sun City Girls,
Adolescents,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Minnie Riperton,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
F. McDonald,
Thee Headcoats,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eric Dolphy,
Joensuu 1685,
Mark Hollis,
David Axelrod,
Mantronix,
The Angels of Light,
Cameo,
Carl Craig,
Kaleidoscope,
The Durutti Column,
Danielle Patucci,
Rotary Connection,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Severed Heads,
John Foxx,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Porter Ricks,
Second Layer,
Camberwell Now,
The Zeros,
Nik Kershaw,
Robert Hood,
Youth Brigade,
Make Up,
The Sonics,
Monks,
Juan Atkins,
Popol Vuh,
Supertramp,
This Heat,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.