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 Kosovo and from Lyon.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sight & Sound to the rap 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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dennis Brown 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unrelated Segments record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Severed Heads,
Matthew Halsall,
Monks,
Gastr Del Sol,
Josef K,
Brand Nubian,
Curtis Mayfield,
EPMD,
Peter and Kerry,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Susan Cadogan,
Juan Atkins,
The Wake,
Sandy B,
Warsaw,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Robert Hood,
Kenny Larkin,
Roxy Music,
Avey Tare,
Television,
Angry Samoans,
B.T. Express,
the Bar-Kays,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Section 25,
AZ,
Crash Course in Science,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Glambeats Corp.,
Eric B and Rakim,
Leonard Cohen,
Tres Demented,
Wolf Eyes,
Donny Hathaway,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kaleidoscope,
The New Christs,
The Offenders,
John Lydon,
Michelle Simonal,
The Black Dice,
Pierre Henry,
The Five Americans,
Don Cherry,
The Seeds,
Shuggie Otis,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Girls At Our Best!,
Hot Snakes,
Theoretical Girls,
Radio Birdman,
PIL,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Dual Sessions,
Lalo Schifrin,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Faraquet,
Lou Reed,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Henry Cow,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.