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 Sierra Leone and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 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 Eric B and Rakim to the techno 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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sixth Finger,
Soulsonic Force,
Kayak,
Joensuu 1685,
Whodini,
Donny Hathaway,
Idris Muhammad,
June of 44,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Boredoms,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Gerry Rafferty,
Dave Gahan,
Half Japanese,
Big Daddy Kane,
June Days,
The Blues Magoos,
Kaleidoscope,
Erasure,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Model 500,
The Invisible,
Supertramp,
Scott Walker,
Black Bananas,
Stockholm Monsters,
Schoolly D,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Divine Comedy,
Ultimate Spinach,
the Fania All-Stars,
Public Image Ltd.,
Chris Corsano,
kango's stein massive,
X-101,
Pharoah Sanders,
UT,
Gong,
The Slackers,
This Heat,
Public Enemy,
Severed Heads,
Newcleus,
Terry Callier,
Black Sheep,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Anthony Braxton,
Johnny Clarke,
Sarah Menescal,
Blancmange,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Minnie Riperton,
the Swans,
Ludus,
John Coltrane,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pere Ubu,
Rites of Spring,
D'Angelo,
Moby Grape,
Marvin Gaye,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.