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 Lesotho and from Hong Kong.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Y Pants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Birthday Party,
Arthur Verocai,
Robert Görl,
Rhythm & Sound,
Eve St. Jones,
The Alarm Clocks,
X-102,
New Order,
Byron Stingily,
the Swans,
Joe Finger,
DNA,
Slick Rick,
Hoover,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The American Breed,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Cluster,
Henry Cow,
Don Cherry,
Pere Ubu,
Terry Callier,
Dave Gahan,
The Index,
Pantytec,
Neil Young,
Japan,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Moody Blues,
Alison Limerick,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Crime,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
These Immortal Souls,
Josef K,
The Count Five,
Malaria!,
The Motions,
Pet Shop Boys,
E-Dancer,
Unrelated Segments,
Archie Shepp,
Tomorrow,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Wolf Eyes,
Silicon Teens,
Main Source,
David Axelrod,
Yazoo,
Rites of Spring,
EPMD,
The Techniques,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Man Eating Sloth,
X-101,
Talk Talk,
Scratch Acid,
Joe Smooth,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee.
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.