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 Yemen and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Scrapy to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Grey Daturas. All the underground hits.
All Lower 48 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Anakelly 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a a-ha record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
Alphaville,
Marcia Griffiths,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Five Americans,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Model 500,
The Zeros,
Scott Walker,
X-102,
Scratch Acid,
Soft Cell,
X-101,
DNA,
The Monochrome Set,
Soul II Soul,
The Sound,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pantytec,
Adolescents,
Monolake,
Dave Gahan,
The Red Krayola,
Henry Cow,
Jeff Lynne,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Tim Buckley,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bill Wells,
Funky Four + One,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sun Ra,
The Vogues,
Lee Hazlewood,
Surgeon,
Silicon Teens,
Black Pus,
Depeche Mode,
LL Cool J,
Bluetip,
John Coltrane,
Tropical Tobacco,
Gang Starr,
Thompson Twins,
Minutemen,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Connie Case,
Spandau Ballet,
The Doors,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Alice Coltrane,
Flamin' Groovies,
Darondo,
Lucky Dragons,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Josef K,
Television,
The Fuzztones,
Brick,
The Motions,
EPMD, EPMD, EPMD, EPMD.
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.