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 Moldova and from Madrid.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Black Sheep to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The New Christs. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every One Last Wish 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 harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Organ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Flock of Seagulls,
Stockholm Monsters,
Q and Not U,
Erykah Badu,
Lungfish,
Curtis Mayfield,
Roy Ayers,
Piero Umiliani,
The Trojans,
Laurel Aitken,
Skaos,
Unrelated Segments,
Hashim,
Chrome,
Boredoms,
The Zeros,
Ultimate Spinach,
Con Funk Shun,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Scott Walker,
Glenn Branca,
the Human League,
Throbbing Gristle,
World's Most,
Pantaleimon,
Clear Light,
Max Romeo,
Pulsallama,
Absolute Body Control,
Jeru the Damaja,
R.M.O.,
F. McDonald,
Pole,
The Gap Band,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Joe Finger,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Banda Bassotti,
The Invisible,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lou Reed,
Gang Starr,
Crooked Eye,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Simply Red,
Godley & Creme,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
MDC,
The Slits,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Aaron Thompson,
X-Ray Spex,
The Pretty Things,
The American Breed,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.