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 Kuwait and from Tokyo.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Peter and Kerry to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 D'Angelo. All the underground hits.
All Sällskapet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Minnie Riperton,
Don Cherry,
Roxette,
Cybotron,
Radiopuhelimet,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Unrelated Segments,
Amon Düül II,
Man Parrish,
Joe Smooth,
Shuggie Otis,
Delta 5,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Rosa Yemen,
Kenny Larkin,
Eric B and Rakim,
Aural Exciters,
Lou Christie,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ludus,
Cheater Slicks,
Iggy Pop,
Delon & Dalcan,
Half Japanese,
Rhythm & Sound,
Leonard Cohen,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Supertramp,
Monolake,
The Pop Group,
Harmonia,
Q and Not U,
Nation of Ulysses,
Organ,
John Cale,
Eric Copeland,
Drexciya,
The Dirtbombs,
Malaria!,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Fuzztones,
Stockholm Monsters,
Simply Red,
Ossler,
Connie Case,
Franke,
Sonic Youth,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
T. Rex,
Echospace,
Alton Ellis,
Vladislav Delay,
Minny Pops,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Detroit Cobras,
Marshall Jefferson,
Kurtis Blow,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.