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 Zambia and from Accra.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Althea and Donna to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All Ultra Naté tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sällskapet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Monochrome Set,
Cymande,
Outsiders,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Unrelated Segments,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Pere Ubu,
Buzzcocks,
Dave Gahan,
The Durutti Column,
Erasure,
The Dirtbombs,
Skarface,
Stetsasonic,
The Vogues,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pantaleimon,
Andrew Hill,
Mars,
Mark Hollis,
June Days,
The Birthday Party,
Michelle Simonal,
the Soft Cell,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Avey Tare,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Echospace,
Minny Pops,
Circle Jerks,
Oneida,
The Mummies,
The Wake,
Vainqueur,
Pulsallama,
Country Teasers,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Remains,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Smog,
The Selecter,
Eden Ahbez,
Alton Ellis,
OOIOO,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Stooges,
The Real Kids,
Freddie Wadling,
Nas,
The Techniques,
Matthew Bourne,
Lalo Schifrin,
Don Cherry,
Little Man,
Alison Limerick,
Bob Dylan,
Dark Day,
David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.
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.