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 France and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 snare 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 Kaleidoscope to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Dawn Penn. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Anthony Braxton 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boogie Down Productions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Peter & Gordon,
The Blackbyrds,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Gang Green,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Flamin' Groovies,
48th St. Collective,
The Selecter,
Fela Kuti,
The Misunderstood,
Junior Murvin,
Bizarre Inc.,
Massinfluence,
Guru Guru,
Main Source,
Kas Product,
Lee Hazlewood,
Byron Stingily,
Con Funk Shun,
Barry Ungar,
Bauhaus,
Echospace,
The Raincoats,
Maurizio,
Bill Near,
Vladislav Delay,
The Monks,
Davy DMX,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Quando Quango,
X-Ray Spex,
China Crisis,
Ponytail,
Minor Threat,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Reuben Wilson,
Stiv Bators,
Kenny Larkin,
Trumans Water,
The Human League,
The Smiths,
Skriet,
The Monochrome Set,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Nik Kershaw,
Rakim,
The Techniques,
Q and Not U,
Quadrant,
The Martian,
B.T. Express,
Oneida,
Hoover,
Tommy Roe,
Jeff Mills,
The Young Rascals,
Heaven 17,
Peter and Kerry,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Trojans,
Kurtis Blow,
Au Pairs,
The Cramps,
Inner City, Inner City, Inner City, Inner City.
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.