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 Fiji and from Johannesburg.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 F. McDonald to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Dave Gahan. All the underground hits.
All Public Enemy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Evens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 harpsichord and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monochrome Set record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
U.S. Maple,
Shuggie Otis,
Albert Ayler,
Brand Nubian,
JFA,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sun Ra,
Pharoah Sanders,
R.M.O.,
Fugazi,
Qualms,
Glambeats Corp.,
Tim Buckley,
Ten City,
Rakim,
Harpers Bizarre,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Scan 7,
Groovy Waters,
Talk Talk,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Blake Baxter,
The Grass Roots,
Barrington Levy,
Outsiders,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Erykah Badu,
Depeche Mode,
The Residents,
Zero Boys,
Severed Heads,
Laurel Aitken,
Nils Olav,
The Monks,
The Dave Clark Five,
Animal Collective,
Supertramp,
Zapp,
Clear Light,
Bob Dylan,
Johnny Osbourne,
Roger Hodgson,
Joe Finger,
Avey Tare,
The Buckinghams,
The Cure,
Scrapy,
Alphaville,
Ultra Naté,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gang Green,
Robert Görl,
Spoonie Gee,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Babytalk,
Main Source,
Stetsasonic,
Audionom,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Schoolly D,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.