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 Macedonia and from Toronto.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 güiro 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 Vladislav Delay to the grunge 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 N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell. All the underground hits.
All Selector Dub Narcotic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sugar Minott,
The Misunderstood,
Arab on Radar,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bush Tetras,
the Sonics,
Dawn Penn,
Radiohead,
Joensuu 1685,
Pussy Galore,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Liliput,
Swans,
June Days,
Excepter,
Can,
Television Personalities,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Big Daddy Kane,
New Order,
Easy Going,
Faraquet,
Alice Coltrane,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Dirtbombs,
The Raincoats,
Half Japanese,
Stiv Bators,
Bluetip,
Buzzcocks,
Vladislav Delay,
Livin' Joy,
Unwound,
Grandmaster Flash,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Radio Birdman,
Michelle Simonal,
Dennis Brown,
Barrington Levy,
PIL,
Fluxion,
Iggy Pop,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Names,
The Victims,
Erasure,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Slits,
Josef K,
F. McDonald,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jacob Miller,
The Remains,
Y Pants,
Juan Atkins,
B.T. Express,
Groovy Waters,
Skriet,
The Move,
The Dead C,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Richard Hell and the Voidoids.
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.