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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Nation of Ulysses to the jazz 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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Prince Buster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bob Dylan,
Stiv Bators,
Jesper Dahlback,
Youth Brigade,
Duran Duran,
FM Einheit,
Cymande,
Yazoo,
Soft Cell,
Matthew Halsall,
Boredoms,
Arthur Verocai,
Echospace,
Sonic Youth,
Gang Gang Dance,
Brand Nubian,
Ohio Players,
China Crisis,
Clear Light,
Brick,
Tom Boy,
The Real Kids,
Cheater Slicks,
Prince Buster,
Roger Hodgson,
Tomorrow,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Soul II Soul,
New Age Steppers,
The Doors,
Roxy Music,
The Leaves,
Joey Negro,
John Foxx,
Parry Music,
Livin' Joy,
Kool Moe Dee,
Soft Machine,
Pantytec,
Accadde A,
Erasure,
Royal Trux,
Bootsy Collins,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Matthew Bourne,
The Zeros,
Sound Behaviour,
Magma,
Barrington Levy,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ten City,
Unwound,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Scott Walker,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Arcadia,
Desert Stars,
Faust,
X-101,
Curtis Mayfield,
Essential Logic,
Aswad,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.