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 Bolivia and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 clarinet 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 The Dirtbombs to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Star Department. All the underground hits.
All The Dave Clark Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faust,
The Shadows of Knight,
Talk Talk,
Rhythm & Sound,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Count Five,
Shuggie Otis,
Freddie Wadling,
Aswad,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Traffic Nightmare,
Marcia Griffiths,
Interpol,
Wally Richardson,
Black Pus,
DNA,
The Gories,
Iggy Pop,
Absolute Body Control,
Josef K,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Donald Byrd,
the Human League,
The Fortunes,
Tomorrow,
The Skatalites,
Fear,
Rekid,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Tom Boy,
Scion,
The Alarm Clocks,
Banda Bassotti,
Ituana,
Fatback Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
MDC,
Barrington Levy,
Tommy Roe,
Popol Vuh,
Dennis Brown,
The Slits,
Mark Hollis,
cv313,
Arab on Radar,
Archie Shepp,
The Slackers,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Bar-Kays,
The Cure,
Bad Manners,
Slave,
Swell Maps,
Ultra Naté,
The Seeds,
Moss Icon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pharoah Sanders,
Aloha Tigers,
Slick Rick,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.