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 Vanuatu and from Halifax.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 It's A Beautiful Day to the crunk 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 Hot Snakes. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Hill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mr. Review record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pulsallama,
Jeru the Damaja,
Grauzone,
The Index,
Hoover,
Easy Going,
Steve Hackett,
New York Dolls,
The Walker Brothers,
Soft Machine,
Josef K,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Grass Roots,
Silicon Teens,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Dual Sessions,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Alison Limerick,
Moby Grape,
Soft Cell,
The Gap Band,
Blancmange,
Essential Logic,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Idris Muhammad,
Rosa Yemen,
The Dave Clark Five,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sexual Harrassment,
Tomorrow,
F. McDonald,
Howard Jones,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Main Source,
Fat Boys,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Urselle,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Aswad,
Sex Pistols,
Joe Smooth,
Ponytail,
Kool Moe Dee,
Alice Coltrane,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Gang of Four,
Traffic Nightmare,
Susan Cadogan,
Goldenarms,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Gladiators,
Con Funk Shun,
Sam Rivers,
Joyce Sims,
Robert Wyatt,
Von Mondo,
Technova,
Oblivians,
Pierre Henry,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.