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 Cape Verde and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 chamberlin 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry Gold Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Albert Ayler,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pet Shop Boys,
Joe Finger,
Qualms,
Althea and Donna,
Mark Hollis,
Spandau Ballet,
Faraquet,
Crispian St. Peters,
Judy Mowatt,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Arthur Verocai,
the Swans,
Charles Mingus,
The Stooges,
the Association,
U.S. Maple,
Con Funk Shun,
Pierre Henry,
Dennis Brown,
Michelle Simonal,
Brand Nubian,
Moebius,
Babytalk,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Byron Stingily,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Sister Nancy,
Nick Fraelich,
Fluxion,
Chris & Cosey,
Liliput,
Infiniti,
The Golliwogs,
Todd Rundgren,
Wally Richardson,
The Young Rascals,
Sonny Sharrock,
Average White Band,
Unrelated Segments,
Rites of Spring,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Todd Terry,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Dorothy Ashby,
Parry Music,
K-Klass,
Harmonia,
B.T. Express,
Goldenarms,
Connie Case,
Joey Negro,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Black Dice,
The Sonics,
Young Marble Giants,
Easy Going,
Al Stewart,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Zapp, Zapp, Zapp, Zapp.
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.