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 Kyrgyzstan and from Lille.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar 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 Erykah Badu to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Kerri Chandler. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Danielle Patucci,
Nirvana,
Bronski Beat,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Scratch Acid,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Glenn Branca,
Kerrie Biddell,
Soul II Soul,
The Walker Brothers,
Big Daddy Kane,
Radiopuhelimet,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Easy Going,
Steve Hackett,
Harry Pussy,
Das Ding,
Charles Mingus,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Buckinghams,
Henry Cow,
The Shadows of Knight,
Dark Day,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
DNA,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Nation of Ulysses,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rapeman,
The Smoke,
Bluetip,
Country Teasers,
Sandy B,
Kas Product,
Michelle Simonal,
Loose Ends,
Wally Richardson,
Electric Prunes,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
La Düsseldorf,
Barry Ungar,
Drexciya,
the Normal,
the Fania All-Stars,
Severed Heads,
Eddi Front,
Moss Icon,
Darondo,
Cheater Slicks,
Intrusion,
Fear,
Buzzcocks,
Clear Light,
The Litter,
The Skatalites,
X-Ray Spex,
Jeru the Damaja,
10cc,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.