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 Syria and from Lille.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 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 Kurtis Blow to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Peanut Butter Conspiracy. All the underground hits.
All Thompson Twins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Velvet Underground 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Depeche Mode record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blossom Toes,
Theoretical Girls,
In Retrospect,
The Neon Judgement,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Minnie Riperton,
Nick Fraelich,
Hot Snakes,
The Busters,
The Divine Comedy,
Rotary Connection,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Johnny Osbourne,
Fela Kuti,
Buzzcocks,
Barbara Tucker,
The Kinks,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lindisfarne,
The Selecter,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Smiths,
Guru Guru,
Sexual Harrassment,
Terry Callier,
Grauzone,
DNA,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pulsallama,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Rhythm & Sound,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Quantec,
MDC,
Yellowson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Warsaw,
Easy Going,
Los Fastidios,
Echospace,
Anthony Braxton,
Roy Ayers,
MC5,
Bill Wells,
Donald Byrd,
Masters at Work,
Fatback Band,
Subhumans,
Chrome,
Massinfluence,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kurtis Blow,
Skarface,
Bluetip,
The Buckinghams,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.