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 Malawi and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Skaos to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Scan 7. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every a-ha 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 güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Popol Vuh,
Unrelated Segments,
Yaz,
Traffic Nightmare,
Kurtis Blow,
Hoover,
Mr. Review,
Banda Bassotti,
Icehouse,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Litter,
the Association,
Jandek,
Talk Talk,
The Doors,
In Retrospect,
X-101,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rod Modell,
DNA,
Pet Shop Boys,
the Slits,
Jacques Brel,
Saccharine Trust,
Bobby Byrd,
Howard Jones,
Ultra Naté,
Brothers Johnson,
Lebanon Hanover,
Magazine,
Black Sheep,
Camberwell Now,
Thee Headcoats,
Grauzone,
Moebius,
Nas,
Malaria!,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Archie Shepp,
Man Eating Sloth,
Echospace,
Aswad,
Ituana,
MC5,
Au Pairs,
Colin Newman,
Buzzcocks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Youth Brigade,
48th St. Collective,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Scion,
Gil Scott Heron,
David McCallum,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Blancmange,
The Cure,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cameo,
Crime,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.