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 Tonga and from Manila.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 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 Fad Gadget to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marshall Jefferson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Cheater Slicks,
Eli Mardock,
Sällskapet,
Mars,
Todd Terry,
The Alarm Clocks,
Funky Four + One,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Desert Stars,
Curtis Mayfield,
Chris Corsano,
The Saints,
Flipper,
Grandmaster Flash,
Quadrant,
The Litter,
Mandrill,
Moby Grape,
Minny Pops,
The Searchers,
Peter and Kerry,
Deadbeat,
Brothers Johnson,
Susan Cadogan,
Lou Christie,
Howard Jones,
Mo-Dettes,
the Association,
Arcadia,
Agent Orange,
Young Marble Giants,
Stockholm Monsters,
Arthur Verocai,
Pulsallama,
X-102,
Maleditus Sound,
Youth Brigade,
Sam Rivers,
Underground Resistance,
Dennis Brown,
Deepchord,
Zero Boys,
Cymande,
Loose Ends,
Leonard Cohen,
Sonny Sharrock,
Swell Maps,
Eden Ahbez,
Piero Umiliani,
Outsiders,
Lindisfarne,
X-101,
Amon Düül II,
Don Cherry,
Lalo Schifrin,
the Normal,
The Names,
Flash Fearless,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.