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 Haiti and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
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 The Tremeloes to the disco 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 Mo-Dettes. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blues Magoos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Average White Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Agitation Free,
The Monochrome Set,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pere Ubu,
The Real Kids,
The Fortunes,
Siglo XX,
The Monks,
Sunsets and Hearts,
ABBA,
The J.B.'s,
Amazonics,
Anthony Braxton,
Little Man,
Joey Negro,
Adolescents,
Rufus Thomas,
Cal Tjader,
Quando Quango,
Second Layer,
Angry Samoans,
The Fire Engines,
Japan,
Junior Murvin,
Erasure,
Inner City,
Absolute Body Control,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Pagans,
Joyce Sims,
Prince Buster,
Soulsonic Force,
Bobby Byrd,
Rakim,
Sparks,
The Move,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Cecil Taylor,
Scott Walker,
Joy Division,
June of 44,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Godley & Creme,
Moss Icon,
The Kinks,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
E-Dancer,
Scion,
Jacques Brel,
The Sound,
Magma,
Fad Gadget,
Iggy Pop,
The Selecter,
The Smiths,
Malaria!,
Susan Cadogan,
Cybotron,
Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes.
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.