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 Maldives and from New York.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 U.S. Maple to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül II record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sight & Sound,
Avey Tare,
The Selecter,
Deakin,
Accadde A,
Cybotron,
Quando Quango,
The Seeds,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Brothers Johnson,
Reagan Youth,
David McCallum,
Leonard Cohen,
Ituana,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Star Department,
Sarah Menescal,
Oneida,
Andrew Hill,
John Cale,
Arcadia,
Chrome,
Nico,
Organ,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Pulsallama,
Letta Mbulu,
Public Image Ltd.,
Max Romeo,
Surgeon,
Susan Cadogan,
Bronski Beat,
Heaven 17,
Vainqueur,
Index,
Nick Fraelich,
Lightning Bolt,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Rotary Connection,
John Coltrane,
The Last Poets,
Radiopuhelimet,
Nas,
PIL,
Blake Baxter,
Yazoo,
Popol Vuh,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Mad Mike,
Depeche Mode,
Neil Young,
Cluster,
ABBA,
T.S.O.L.,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Stereo Dub,
Swans,
Ludus,
Section 25,
Barclay James Harvest,
Dennis Brown,
Make Up,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.