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 London.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Eurythmics to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & Metallica tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scan 7 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultra Naté record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
Von Mondo,
Blossom Toes,
The Barracudas,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Crash Course in Science,
Lower 48,
Prince Buster,
The Names,
Half Japanese,
The Remains,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gang Green,
Pere Ubu,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Fugazi,
The Last Poets,
Ultra Naté,
The United States of America,
The Kinks,
Young Marble Giants,
Amazonics,
The Evens,
Laurel Aitken,
Hasil Adkins,
New Age Steppers,
Bobby Sherman,
DJ Sneak,
Brand Nubian,
Brothers Johnson,
Brass Construction,
Pierre Henry,
the Fania All-Stars,
Eve St. Jones,
Yazoo,
Nik Kershaw,
Heaven 17,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Y Pants,
A Certain Ratio,
Kaleidoscope,
Trumans Water,
Moss Icon,
The Busters,
Charles Mingus,
Minutemen,
Silicon Teens,
Robert Wyatt,
Archie Shepp,
Yellowson,
Bob Dylan,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Johnny Osbourne,
Cymande,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kayak,
Ronnie Foster,
X-Ray Spex,
FM Einheit,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.