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 South Africa and from Houston.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 rhodes 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 Unwound to the grime 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 Sun Ra. All the underground hits.
All Piero Umiliani tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Arab on Radar,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Cheater Slicks,
Pierre Henry,
Camouflage,
John Lydon,
The United States of America,
Connie Case,
Colin Newman,
Average White Band,
Loose Ends,
The Star Department,
The Beau Brummels,
Ice-T,
Kenny Larkin,
Matthew Bourne,
Bluetip,
Kurtis Blow,
The Seeds,
DNA,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Rakim,
The Smoke,
Essential Logic,
Piero Umiliani,
Section 25,
Barbara Tucker,
The Index,
The Trojans,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bush Tetras,
Monolake,
Rapeman,
FM Einheit,
David Bowie,
Procol Harum,
The Velvet Underground,
The Grass Roots,
Symarip,
Deakin,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
DJ Sneak,
Eve St. Jones,
Judy Mowatt,
Circle Jerks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Wings,
Jeff Lynne,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Slackers,
Dennis Brown,
Joe Finger,
Cecil Taylor,
The Residents,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rhythm & Sound,
10cc,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pussy Galore,
Eden Ahbez,
Audionom, Audionom, Audionom, Audionom.
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.