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 Micronesia and from Beijing.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the güiro 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 Yaz to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlbäck tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker 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 an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Prince Buster,
Bootsy Collins,
Gang Gang Dance,
Oblivians,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Skaos,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Move,
The Fuzztones,
Camberwell Now,
New Order,
Pulsallama,
Soft Cell,
Smog,
Gang Starr,
Junior Murvin,
Heaven 17,
The Knickerbockers,
Suburban Knight,
The Dave Clark Five,
Japan,
The Techniques,
Arab on Radar,
The Angels of Light,
Ronnie Foster,
Outsiders,
Funky Four + One,
Scrapy,
Matthew Bourne,
The Slits,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Five Americans,
MDC,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Barracudas,
Oneida,
David Bowie,
Liliput,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eyeless In Gaza,
K-Klass,
Sexual Harrassment,
Animal Collective,
Niagra,
Roger Hodgson,
Yazoo,
LL Cool J,
Blake Baxter,
Average White Band,
Jerry's Kids,
Joensuu 1685,
Dark Day,
Sun City Girls,
Nirvana,
Man Parrish,
Unwound,
Spoonie Gee,
Ludus,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
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.