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 Poland 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 Mexico City and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Niagra to the crunk 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 the Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eddi Front record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Archie Shepp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wolf Eyes,
The Skatalites,
The Trojans,
T. Rex,
Neu!,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Swans,
the Normal,
Ludus,
Faraquet,
Kayak,
Crooked Eye,
Massinfluence,
Eddi Front,
the Bar-Kays,
Simply Red,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Wake,
Susan Cadogan,
The Sound,
Isaac Hayes,
Schoolly D,
Stereo Dub,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Smiths,
The J.B.'s,
Graham Central Station,
Reuben Wilson,
Rakim,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Lungfish,
The Leaves,
Infiniti,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Brothers Johnson,
Duran Duran,
Ronnie Foster,
Kaleidoscope,
Sun Ra,
Spoonie Gee,
Maleditus Sound,
Gregory Isaacs,
Minutemen,
The Mojo Men,
This Heat,
Kerrie Biddell,
Crispian St. Peters,
X-101,
The Golliwogs,
One Last Wish,
the Sonics,
Smog,
The Barracudas,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Essential Logic,
The Music Machine,
Soft Machine,
The Busters,
Sun City Girls,
Ossler,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.