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 Switzerland and from Calgary.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Lille.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the theremin 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 The Modern Lovers to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Interpol 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Traffic Nightmare,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Spandau Ballet,
Hashim,
Slave,
Bronski Beat,
Qualms,
Mars,
B.T. Express,
Idris Muhammad,
FM Einheit,
The Monochrome Set,
Shuggie Otis,
OOIOO,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kevin Saunderson,
Piero Umiliani,
Gastr Del Sol,
Faust,
Delon & Dalcan,
Donald Byrd,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Al Stewart,
Sun City Girls,
The Walker Brothers,
Urselle,
Buzzcocks,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Mojo Men,
The Modern Lovers,
Nation of Ulysses,
Ludus,
Fad Gadget,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Colin Newman,
The Martian,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Barracudas,
Rakim,
Minnie Riperton,
Shoche,
Ten City,
H. Thieme,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sam Rivers,
John Coltrane,
Brick,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Move,
Ultra Naté,
Bauhaus,
ABBA,
Pere Ubu,
Babytalk,
Tears for Fears,
James White and The Blacks,
Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach.
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.