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 Ethiopia and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sandy B to the grime 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 Jesper Dahlbäck. All the underground hits.
All Fat Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Au Pairs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Vogues record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Misunderstood,
The Slackers,
the Slits,
Altered Images,
Ossler,
The Shadows of Knight,
Godley & Creme,
Sun City Girls,
Public Image Ltd.,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Frankie Knuckles,
Agent Orange,
Marvin Gaye,
The Doors,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Cramps,
Althea and Donna,
the Association,
The Remains,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Marine Girls,
Black Sheep,
The Electric Prunes,
Cybotron,
Mo-Dettes,
Neu!,
John Lydon,
Simply Red,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Marmalade,
Donald Byrd,
Pierre Henry,
Matthew Halsall,
Pharoah Sanders,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Panda Bear,
Ponytail,
The Stooges,
Kayak,
X-101,
Harmonia,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
X-Ray Spex,
Freddie Wadling,
Rakim,
Skriet,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Human League,
Gerry Rafferty,
Dave Gahan,
Fluxion,
New Order,
The Detroit Cobras,
ABC,
Graham Central Station,
Black Flag,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.