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 St Kitts & Nevis and from London.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 T. Rex to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Soft Machine. All the underground hits.
All Bob Dylan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blues Magoos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tubeway Army record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacob Miller,
Robert Görl,
Gong,
Basic Channel,
Aswad,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
A Certain Ratio,
James White and The Blacks,
the Sonics,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
K-Klass,
Wire,
Rekid,
Peter and Kerry,
Eden Ahbez,
Pantytec,
Sister Nancy,
Black Pus,
The Wake,
Supertramp,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mary Jane Girls,
Piero Umiliani,
The Neon Judgement,
Stereo Dub,
World's Most,
Cybotron,
Pulsallama,
The Star Department,
T. Rex,
Camberwell Now,
Black Flag,
Surgeon,
Ronnie Foster,
Archie Shepp,
Suburban Knight,
DJ Style,
Kaleidoscope,
Hoover,
Ultimate Spinach,
Section 25,
Monks,
Skarface,
Harmonia,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Walker Brothers,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Tremeloes,
Oneida,
The Names,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gil Scott Heron,
kango's stein massive,
Dark Day,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Techniques,
The Barracudas,
The Blues Magoos,
Bootsy Collins,
David Axelrod,
The Count Five, The Count Five, The Count Five, The Count Five.
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.