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 Kazakhstan and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 Accra and Winnipeg.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Nick Fraelich to the grime 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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ponytail record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 linndrum and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flamin' Groovies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Zapp,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Skriet,
Siglo XX,
Leonard Cohen,
Lower 48,
The Golliwogs,
The Modern Lovers,
Tom Boy,
Dawn Penn,
Chris & Cosey,
Bush Tetras,
Fad Gadget,
The Beau Brummels,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bronski Beat,
Minny Pops,
The Leaves,
Lou Reed,
Mission of Burma,
Stetsasonic,
Chrome,
Glambeats Corp.,
Dead Boys,
Harpers Bizarre,
Khruangbin,
Howard Jones,
the Soft Cell,
Hashim,
The Music Machine,
The J.B.'s,
Main Source,
The Grass Roots,
Sarah Menescal,
Reagan Youth,
Icehouse,
The Blackbyrds,
Pole,
Henry Cow,
Funkadelic,
Rufus Thomas,
48th St. Collective,
Deepchord,
Cymande,
The Red Krayola,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Invisible,
Kayak,
Bill Near,
Erasure,
Jerry's Kids,
F. McDonald,
New York Dolls,
Danielle Patucci,
Jawbox,
DJ Style,
Josef K,
The Smoke,
Tommy Roe,
The Residents,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.