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 Italy and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Livin' Joy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
These Immortal Souls,
The Fall,
Soul II Soul,
Sun Ra,
Roy Ayers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Audionom,
Spoonie Gee,
Gong,
Tropical Tobacco,
Blake Baxter,
Carl Craig,
Lower 48,
Q65,
Hashim,
The Slackers,
Oneida,
Judy Mowatt,
Lucky Dragons,
T.S.O.L.,
Black Sheep,
Terrestrial Tones,
The J.B.'s,
The Gories,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Marvin Gaye,
Smog,
Fela Kuti,
Easy Going,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Joey Negro,
Los Fastidios,
Nick Fraelich,
Ten City,
The Fire Engines,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Byron Stingily,
Chris Corsano,
Second Layer,
Slave,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Thompson Twins,
Pantytec,
Derrick May,
Hoover,
The Buckinghams,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Terry Callier,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Birthday Party,
Inner City,
Monolake,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
EPMD,
Nas,
the Sonics,
Rites of Spring,
Bauhaus,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.