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 Gambia and from Beijing.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Fatback Band to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 London Community Gospel Choir. All the underground hits.
All Tropical Tobacco tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Searchers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott Heron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
The Misunderstood,
The Pop Group,
Scion,
New Age Steppers,
Sun City Girls,
Erasure,
Black Sheep,
DJ Style,
Sugar Minott,
Bang On A Can,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Judy Mowatt,
Carl Craig,
Arcadia,
Minny Pops,
Panda Bear,
Oblivians,
The Golliwogs,
Y Pants,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Techniques,
A Flock of Seagulls,
F. McDonald,
Von Mondo,
Marcia Griffiths,
Eric Copeland,
Bobby Sherman,
Ohio Players,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Evens,
Marine Girls,
Cluster,
Marshall Jefferson,
John Cale,
Glenn Branca,
Harpers Bizarre,
John Foxx,
Iggy Pop,
The Remains,
Masters at Work,
U.S. Maple,
Surgeon,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Detroit Cobras,
Johnny Clarke,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mad Mike,
Gang of Four,
Kenny Larkin,
Siglo XX,
The Cure,
Scratch Acid,
Monolake,
The J.B.'s,
Rufus Thomas,
Groovy Waters,
Mo-Dettes,
Harmonia,
The Invisible,
Skarface,
The Electric Prunes,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless.
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.