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 Vanuatu and from Stockholm.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Bluetip to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Blancmange. All the underground hits.
All the Fania All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echospace,
Fluxion,
Ornette Coleman,
Jandek,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Television Personalities,
The Monks,
Prince Buster,
Sound Behaviour,
Loose Ends,
The Young Rascals,
R.M.O.,
La Düsseldorf,
Urselle,
Byron Stingily,
Kenny Larkin,
FM Einheit,
Stockholm Monsters,
Laurel Aitken,
Schoolly D,
Soul II Soul,
Kurtis Blow,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Public Image Ltd.,
Hardrive,
Jacques Brel,
Crime,
Marvin Gaye,
Oblivians,
Gong,
Rod Modell,
T.S.O.L.,
Talk Talk,
Livin' Joy,
Von Mondo,
Matthew Halsall,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
China Crisis,
Cybotron,
Marc Almond,
Goldenarms,
Metal Thangz,
Yazoo,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Tomorrow,
The Slackers,
Gang Starr,
Derrick May,
Pussy Galore,
Stereo Dub,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Avey Tare,
Nils Olav,
Fad Gadget,
The Cramps,
Marcia Griffiths,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Technova,
Absolute Body Control, Absolute Body Control, Absolute Body Control, Absolute Body Control.
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.