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 Bangladesh and from Shanghai.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 John Lydon to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Delta 5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lakeside,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pet Shop Boys,
Andrew Hill,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Crash Course in Science,
Rosa Yemen,
The Selecter,
Alice Coltrane,
Chrome,
Darondo,
The Music Machine,
Eric Dolphy,
The Black Dice,
Peter & Gordon,
The Buckinghams,
Ultimate Spinach,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Frankie Knuckles,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Circle Jerks,
Grey Daturas,
the Swans,
Terrestrial Tones,
Blancmange,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Davy DMX,
Letta Mbulu,
Bob Dylan,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Mad Mike,
Model 500,
Sparks,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Fugs,
Eli Mardock,
The Dirtbombs,
a-ha,
Hardrive,
The Misunderstood,
Simply Red,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Urselle,
Byron Stingily,
H. Thieme,
Camberwell Now,
Lindisfarne,
Fat Boys,
Stiv Bators,
PIL,
Scratch Acid,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Fatback Band,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Dennis Brown,
Grandmaster Flash,
Eric Copeland,
Stockholm Monsters,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Knickerbockers,
Basic Channel,
Delta 5, Delta 5, Delta 5, Delta 5.
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.