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 Switzerland and from Salvador.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 clarinet 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 Todd Rundgren to the rap 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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style 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 marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joensuu 1685 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boredoms,
Gil Scott Heron,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Grass Roots,
Johnny Clarke,
Absolute Body Control,
In Retrospect,
Aaron Thompson,
Gerry Rafferty,
Blancmange,
The Motions,
Flipper,
Sonic Youth,
Groovy Waters,
Technova,
X-Ray Spex,
Byron Stingily,
Wings,
New York Dolls,
The Leaves,
Fat Boys,
Symarip,
Stetsasonic,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Amazonics,
Radiopuhelimet,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
48th St. Collective,
Al Stewart,
Matthew Halsall,
Warren Ellis,
Erasure,
PIL,
New Order,
Grauzone,
Parry Music,
MDC,
Duran Duran,
Simply Red,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Yusef Lateef,
Steve Hackett,
Soft Machine,
Tears for Fears,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lee Hazlewood,
John Holt,
The Blues Magoos,
The Smoke,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Blackbyrds,
Gastr Del Sol,
Babytalk,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Marshall Jefferson,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Reagan Youth,
Japan,
Gichy Dan,
The Fall, The Fall, The Fall, The Fall.
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.