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 Ethiopia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the disco 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 Ultra Naté. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Toni Rubio 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Hill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
JFA,
Tommy Roe,
The Last Poets,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Piero Umiliani,
Skaos,
New Age Steppers,
Scrapy,
X-102,
10cc,
Intrusion,
The Trojans,
The Martian,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Jeff Mills,
This Heat,
Second Layer,
Hasil Adkins,
Jerry's Kids,
Mission of Burma,
Aloha Tigers,
Index,
Niagra,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Terrestrial Tones,
Skriet,
Radiohead,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
the Sonics,
the Slits,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Crime,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Walker Brothers,
The Happenings,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Associates,
Warren Ellis,
Pet Shop Boys,
Skarface,
Flipper,
Kool Moe Dee,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Animal Collective,
kango's stein massive,
Traffic Nightmare,
U.S. Maple,
Stockholm Monsters,
Mo-Dettes,
Gichy Dan,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Schoolly D,
The Selecter,
Oblivians,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Alison Limerick,
Albert Ayler,
Kurtis Blow,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lakeside,
Radio Birdman,
The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department.
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.