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 Uruguay 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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bob Dylan to the crunk 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 Todd Terry. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scrapy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Lydon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
the Normal,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kaleidoscope,
Surgeon,
Robert Wyatt,
David Bowie,
Bluetip,
Andrew Hill,
Stiv Bators,
The Gap Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sonic Youth,
Sugar Minott,
Freddie Wadling,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lower 48,
The Wake,
The Blues Magoos,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Tres Demented,
Avey Tare,
Grauzone,
Gil Scott Heron,
Aaron Thompson,
D'Angelo,
John Holt,
Blake Baxter,
Procol Harum,
Parry Music,
CMW,
The Durutti Column,
Sound Behaviour,
Cymande,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Joe Finger,
Eric B and Rakim,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Neu!,
Lou Reed,
The Beau Brummels,
Bob Dylan,
Half Japanese,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Anthony Braxton,
Dual Sessions,
Prince Buster,
The Neon Judgement,
The Invisible,
Swell Maps,
Junior Murvin,
the Sonics,
Boz Scaggs,
Soft Cell,
Ronnie Foster,
Depeche Mode,
Clear Light,
B.T. Express,
Johnny Clarke,
Archie Shepp,
Oneida,
Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul.
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.