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 Haiti and from Cairo.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Marine Girls to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All Man Eating Sloth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Junior Murvin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Charles Mingus,
The Cowsills,
The Saints,
JFA,
Ultravox,
Tommy Roe,
Franke,
Infiniti,
The Cosmic Jokers,
ABBA,
Erasure,
Ituana,
New York Dolls,
Wings,
Davy DMX,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Star Department,
Rufus Thomas,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Human League,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sällskapet,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Warren Ellis,
Josef K,
Rotary Connection,
Youth Brigade,
John Foxx,
Quantec,
Scrapy,
kango's stein massive,
The Music Machine,
Monks,
Hasil Adkins,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Fortunes,
Kas Product,
Television Personalities,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Con Funk Shun,
Roy Ayers,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Leonard Cohen,
Kenny Larkin,
Alton Ellis,
Sex Pistols,
Pole,
Easy Going,
China Crisis,
Alice Coltrane,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Visage,
Gang Gang Dance,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Velvet Underground,
Shuggie Otis,
Sonny Sharrock,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Moss Icon,
Tim Buckley,
Faust, Faust, Faust, Faust.
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.