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 Mali and from Seoul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Donald Byrd to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Alison Limerick. All the underground hits.
All Section 25 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Star Department record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
Ultimate Spinach,
Groovy Waters,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Television,
Thompson Twins,
Soul II Soul,
Zapp,
Barrington Levy,
Alison Limerick,
Terry Callier,
Scratch Acid,
Sonny Sharrock,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Knickerbockers,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lee Hazlewood,
Max Romeo,
Iggy Pop,
Tres Demented,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Gap Band,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Durutti Column,
Charles Mingus,
The Techniques,
Von Mondo,
Procol Harum,
Unrelated Segments,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Monks,
the Association,
The Martian,
Banda Bassotti,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Birthday Party,
Animal Collective,
Absolute Body Control,
Brand Nubian,
The Dead C,
Howard Jones,
Morten Harket,
The Dirtbombs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Joy Division,
The Slits,
cv313,
The Blackbyrds,
the Swans,
The Black Dice,
Babytalk,
Symarip,
Neil Young,
Frankie Knuckles,
FM Einheit,
Godley & Creme,
T. Rex,
One Last Wish,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bobby Sherman,
The Vogues,
MDC, MDC, MDC, MDC.
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.