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 El Salvador and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Jimmy McGriff to the dance 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Ronan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Görl record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The New Christs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Red Krayola,
The Birthday Party,
Funkadelic,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ronan,
Little Man,
A Certain Ratio,
Marvin Gaye,
Sällskapet,
These Immortal Souls,
Black Moon,
Jeru the Damaja,
a-ha,
Thompson Twins,
Bootsy Collins,
Saccharine Trust,
Faust,
LL Cool J,
The Golliwogs,
Rod Modell,
Max Romeo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Matthew Bourne,
Maurizio,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Aaron Thompson,
Rekid,
Newcleus,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Vladislav Delay,
the Slits,
Junior Murvin,
Lyres,
Flash Fearless,
Faraquet,
Ice-T,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Yaz,
John Coltrane,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Saints,
Eric B and Rakim,
Flamin' Groovies,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Happenings,
Blancmange,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bobby Byrd,
Rotary Connection,
Joe Smooth,
Altered Images,
Mark Hollis,
Harpers Bizarre,
Bizarre Inc.,
Peter & Gordon,
T. Rex,
Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective.
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.