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 Azerbaijan and from Glasgow.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Fela Kuti to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious Big And Bone Thugs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Magazine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Sister Nancy,
Mo-Dettes,
Curtis Mayfield,
Slave,
Skaos,
Au Pairs,
Symarip,
Animal Collective,
Spandau Ballet,
Sugar Minott,
Ultra Naté,
Ralphi Rosario,
Graham Central Station,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Pylon,
Sun Ra,
Sound Behaviour,
Sarah Menescal,
Tomorrow,
Guru Guru,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Yazoo,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Althea and Donna,
Crispian St. Peters,
Cymande,
Michelle Simonal,
Lightning Bolt,
The Skatalites,
Angry Samoans,
Eric Copeland,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kerrie Biddell,
Donald Byrd,
Von Mondo,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Barracudas,
Average White Band,
Neil Young,
Dark Day,
Second Layer,
Bill Wells,
Gong,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Ken Boothe,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Index,
Bluetip,
KRS-One,
Excepter,
DJ Sneak,
Vainqueur,
Goldenarms,
Arab on Radar,
Echospace,
James White and The Blacks,
Grey Daturas,
Aaron Thompson,
Livin' Joy,
Fluxion,
The Dirtbombs, The Dirtbombs, The Dirtbombs, The Dirtbombs.
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.