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 Norway and from Delhi.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Grandmaster Flash to the funk 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 Major Organ And The Adding Machine. All the underground hits.
All Mad Mike tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yazoo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Von Mondo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Accadde A,
B.T. Express,
EPMD,
The Pretty Things,
Rufus Thomas,
Q and Not U,
Fat Boys,
Gang Starr,
Ultra Naté,
Chris Corsano,
The United States of America,
John Cale,
Eurythmics,
Anthony Braxton,
The Moleskins,
Rakim,
Moss Icon,
Connie Case,
Mary Jane Girls,
Funkadelic,
Gong,
Barry Ungar,
The Music Machine,
Ponytail,
Suicide,
Gabor Szabo,
Ronnie Foster,
Dave Gahan,
Rapeman,
Lower 48,
Marmalade,
Oblivians,
Maurizio,
Drive Like Jehu,
Fear,
Marshall Jefferson,
Fela Kuti,
PIL,
Ornette Coleman,
Zero Boys,
The Gories,
Bobby Byrd,
Terry Callier,
Neil Young,
Sun City Girls,
The Misunderstood,
Todd Rundgren,
Vainqueur,
Scion,
Toni Rubio,
Absolute Body Control,
Wally Richardson,
Amon Düül II,
the Slits,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Pop Group,
The Fortunes,
Chrome,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.