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 Madagascar and from Halifax.
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 Mumbai and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
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 Connie Case to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All Motorama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bob Dylan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Zapp,
Nick Fraelich,
The Remains,
Amon Düül,
Delon & Dalcan,
Circle Jerks,
Cecil Taylor,
KRS-One,
Echospace,
Camberwell Now,
Erasure,
Man Parrish,
The Invisible,
PIL,
T.S.O.L.,
Ken Boothe,
Ossler,
The Golliwogs,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
kango's stein massive,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Maurizio,
Monks,
The Fugs,
Jeff Mills,
Easy Going,
Arthur Verocai,
Guru Guru,
Trumans Water,
Brand Nubian,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Chris & Cosey,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The American Breed,
Ludus,
Sarah Menescal,
Amon Düül II,
Pere Ubu,
Soft Machine,
The Raincoats,
The Doobie Brothers,
Angry Samoans,
John Foxx,
the Human League,
Morten Harket,
Shuggie Otis,
Tim Buckley,
The Saints,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Boogie Down Productions,
Supertramp,
Scott Walker,
The Fire Engines,
The Cramps,
the Slits,
Brothers Johnson,
Fear,
The J.B.'s,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.