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 Korea South and from Houston.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 These Immortal Souls to the grunge 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 In Retrospect. All the underground hits.
All David McCallum tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Selecter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doors record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Arcadia,
Agent Orange,
The Shadows of Knight,
Ultra Naté,
Peter & Gordon,
Depeche Mode,
Morten Harket,
Stereo Dub,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Leaves,
T. Rex,
The Blackbyrds,
Blancmange,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jeff Mills,
Nas,
Pole,
Organ,
Quantec,
Mo-Dettes,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Faust,
Rhythm & Sound,
DJ Style,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Joyce Sims,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Star Department,
John Cale,
The Invisible,
New York Dolls,
Sonic Youth,
Isaac Hayes,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Human League,
Khruangbin,
John Holt,
Josef K,
Goldenarms,
Juan Atkins,
R.M.O.,
Technova,
Popol Vuh,
Blossom Toes,
Half Japanese,
Monolake,
8 Eyed Spy,
Jacques Brel,
Johnny Osbourne,
Arthur Verocai,
Au Pairs,
China Crisis,
Aural Exciters,
Silicon Teens,
Idris Muhammad,
Amon Düül II,
Judy Mowatt,
The Raincoats,
F. McDonald,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.