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 Ecuador and from Columbus.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the 808 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 X-101 to the techno 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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Visage record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dual Sessions,
The Busters,
Agent Orange,
Erasure,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Warren Ellis,
Pharoah Sanders,
Yazoo,
F. McDonald,
the Sonics,
Derrick Morgan,
Alphaville,
Cluster,
New York Dolls,
Public Enemy,
Sam Rivers,
Schoolly D,
Ralphi Rosario,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Rosa Yemen,
Rites of Spring,
Echospace,
The Names,
Lou Reed,
Neu!,
The Offenders,
Joey Negro,
Boredoms,
Suburban Knight,
Robert Wyatt,
Icehouse,
Little Man,
Josef K,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Royal Trux,
Glambeats Corp.,
James White and The Blacks,
Black Flag,
The Dead C,
Girls At Our Best!,
Dennis Brown,
Stereo Dub,
Morten Harket,
Scan 7,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Mummies,
Siglo XX,
Archie Shepp,
Sight & Sound,
Michelle Simonal,
Connie Case,
Tubeway Army,
Scrapy,
Erykah Badu,
The American Breed,
Mandrill,
China Crisis,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.