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 Czech Republic and from Tehran.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Black Moon to the dance 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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Techniques record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Ornette Coleman,
Organ,
Make Up,
Eric Dolphy,
Cheater Slicks,
Al Stewart,
Brothers Johnson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Yaz,
Masters at Work,
Wire,
Quadrant,
Wasted Youth,
Nation of Ulysses,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
It's A Beautiful Day,
ABBA,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Adolescents,
the Swans,
Dark Day,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Techniques,
Sonic Youth,
Black Bananas,
Arcadia,
Marmalade,
Gang Starr,
Dual Sessions,
Byron Stingily,
Fad Gadget,
MC5,
Ituana,
Zapp,
New York Dolls,
The Angels of Light,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bad Manners,
Vainqueur,
Laurel Aitken,
Pussy Galore,
Can,
Q65,
Sound Behaviour,
Simply Red,
Colin Newman,
Desert Stars,
Dead Boys,
Kerrie Biddell,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Black Dice,
Massinfluence,
Erasure,
the Fania All-Stars,
Brass Construction,
Ultimate Spinach,
Alphaville,
Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro.
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.