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 Russia and from Taipei.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Alton Ellis to the electroclash 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 In Retrospect. All the underground hits.
All Nas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thompson Twins 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
the Soft Cell,
The Star Department,
T.S.O.L.,
The Martian,
The Index,
Josef K,
Kevin Saunderson,
Charles Mingus,
Pet Shop Boys,
Derrick Morgan,
The Wake,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Howard Jones,
Arcadia,
The Associates,
Nils Olav,
Barclay James Harvest,
Colin Newman,
Anthony Braxton,
KRS-One,
Cecil Taylor,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Wolf Eyes,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Last Poets,
Lungfish,
Monolake,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Nation of Ulysses,
Niagra,
X-102,
Hardrive,
Moss Icon,
The Skatalites,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lakeside,
Graham Central Station,
Make Up,
Tropical Tobacco,
Angry Samoans,
Man Parrish,
Schoolly D,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Grauzone,
Grey Daturas,
Model 500,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Red Krayola,
Marine Girls,
Swell Maps,
Bob Dylan,
Idris Muhammad,
John Coltrane,
Wally Richardson,
Morten Harket,
Thompson Twins,
John Cale,
Hashim,
Nas,
Theoretical Girls,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.