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 Iceland and from Philadelphia.
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 Taipei and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Marine Girls to the grunge 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 Jeff Mills. All the underground hits.
All Model 500 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lafayette Afro Rock Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar 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 Human League,
The Grass Roots,
Nation of Ulysses,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Slits,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bobby Womack,
The Gladiators,
The Tremeloes,
Das Ding,
Isaac Hayes,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
China Crisis,
Dual Sessions,
Wolf Eyes,
The Remains,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lalann,
Brand Nubian,
The Beau Brummels,
The Index,
Zero Boys,
Unrelated Segments,
Dave Gahan,
The J.B.'s,
Buzzcocks,
The Cowsills,
Cymande,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Happenings,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Animal Collective,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Aural Exciters,
The Music Machine,
Nik Kershaw,
Rakim,
Glenn Branca,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sun City Girls,
The Skatalites,
Pharoah Sanders,
Yellowson,
Shoche,
Audionom,
The Motions,
Nick Fraelich,
Soul Sonic Force,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Siglo XX,
Amazonics,
The Residents,
Joe Smooth,
Bobbi Humphrey,
In Retrospect,
Qualms,
Metal Thangz,
Joy Division,
Sly & The Family Stone,
David McCallum,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.