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 Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Babytalk to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nick Fraelich record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
Piero Umiliani,
Infiniti,
Nirvana,
The Zeros,
Niagra,
The Grass Roots,
Quantec,
The Knickerbockers,
Livin' Joy,
Siglo XX,
Ken Boothe,
The Fall,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Barbara Tucker,
The Last Poets,
Matthew Halsall,
Michelle Simonal,
Howard Jones,
Zero Boys,
Maurizio,
Jacques Brel,
The Selecter,
The Associates,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
James White and The Blacks,
Eve St. Jones,
Junior Murvin,
The Monochrome Set,
The Buckinghams,
Fear,
Fugazi,
Crispy Ambulance,
Barrington Levy,
Skaos,
The Fire Engines,
Ossler,
Sight & Sound,
Erasure,
Vainqueur,
Pet Shop Boys,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Raincoats,
Delta 5,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Saints,
Khruangbin,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ohio Players,
Jacob Miller,
Tres Demented,
Ultravox,
Tom Boy,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Harmonia,
Rites of Spring,
Bronski Beat,
Slave,
Mr. Review, Mr. Review, Mr. Review, Mr. Review.
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.