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 Mongolia and from Bologna.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Severed Heads to the techno 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 Smog. All the underground hits.
All Ultra Naté tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sex Pistols 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Technova record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
Black Bananas,
Stiv Bators,
kango's stein massive,
Hashim,
Kaleidoscope,
Subhumans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Invisible,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brand Nubian,
The Human League,
Dave Gahan,
Yaz,
Crime,
The United States of America,
Gang Green,
Young Marble Giants,
Arcadia,
Royal Trux,
Johnny Clarke,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ludus,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
the Sonics,
Gregory Isaacs,
Eric Copeland,
Isaac Hayes,
Moebius,
The Dave Clark Five,
Barry Ungar,
The Young Rascals,
Alphaville,
Trumans Water,
Y Pants,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rhythm & Sound,
June Days,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Public Image Ltd.,
Malaria!,
Junior Murvin,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Au Pairs,
Scientists,
X-101,
Altered Images,
New York Dolls,
The Beau Brummels,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Juan Atkins,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Minnie Riperton,
The Residents,
Gerry Rafferty,
Davy DMX,
X-Ray Spex,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.