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 Singapore and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 the Sonics to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Gastr Del Sol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scion 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?
Cal Tjader,
AZ,
Arab on Radar,
The Names,
Black Sheep,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Angels of Light,
Harpers Bizarre,
Yusef Lateef,
The Gap Band,
The Count Five,
Shoche,
Lalann,
The Black Dice,
Bronski Beat,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Saccharine Trust,
Rod Modell,
Funky Four + One,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Fluxion,
Gang Green,
Archie Shepp,
Radio Birdman,
Japan,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gil Scott Heron,
Depeche Mode,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pharoah Sanders,
Mark Hollis,
The Raincoats,
The Fugs,
L. Decosne,
Don Cherry,
Reuben Wilson,
Joey Negro,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Joy Division,
Marcia Griffiths,
Eric Copeland,
Marvin Gaye,
Rufus Thomas,
Marshall Jefferson,
cv313,
Crispy Ambulance,
Aural Exciters,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Residents,
Model 500,
The Gladiators,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobby Womack,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Terrestrial Tones,
Surgeon,
48th St. Collective,
Chrome,
Mandrill,
Joensuu 1685,
The Cramps,
Basic Channel,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids.
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.