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 Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Sonics to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cybotron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Kinks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wasted Youth,
The Pop Group,
The Shadows of Knight,
Cal Tjader,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Young Marble Giants,
Iggy Pop,
Motorama,
Franke,
Duran Duran,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Invisible,
Nick Fraelich,
Bill Wells,
Letta Mbulu,
Schoolly D,
The J.B.'s,
B.T. Express,
Neil Young,
Janne Schatter,
Amon Düül II,
Ice-T,
Skaos,
Von Mondo,
Gang Starr,
Eric Copeland,
Eric B and Rakim,
New York Dolls,
Shuggie Otis,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tubeway Army,
Desert Stars,
La Düsseldorf,
EPMD,
H. Thieme,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Cheater Slicks,
Harry Pussy,
Lalo Schifrin,
Barrington Levy,
Popol Vuh,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Althea and Donna,
Slick Rick,
Hot Snakes,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Johnny Osbourne,
China Crisis,
Yaz,
The New Christs,
The American Breed,
Tim Buckley,
Prince Buster,
Ohio Players,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
One Last Wish,
Derrick May,
Intrusion,
Trumans Water,
Arab on Radar,
Lindisfarne,
Stereo Dub,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.