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 Antigua and from Portland.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pagans to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mr. Review. All the underground hits.
All LL Cool J tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every F. McDonald record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pylon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moby Grape,
The Kinks,
The Black Dice,
Zapp,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Quadrant,
Camouflage,
Crooked Eye,
Rosa Yemen,
Neil Young,
Grandmaster Flash,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Barry Ungar,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Intrusion,
The Motions,
Susan Cadogan,
Stetsasonic,
Laurel Aitken,
Max Romeo,
Todd Rundgren,
La Düsseldorf,
Jerry's Kids,
The Music Machine,
Boogie Down Productions,
Motorama,
Dorothy Ashby,
cv313,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Blancmange,
The Doobie Brothers,
Soulsonic Force,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Birthday Party,
Prince Buster,
Pere Ubu,
Reuben Wilson,
Kerri Chandler,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Amon Düül,
The Angels of Light,
Half Japanese,
the Slits,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Germs,
Yaz,
Tropical Tobacco,
In Retrospect,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ituana,
The Remains,
Tomorrow,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Procol Harum,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Babytalk,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.