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 Cameroon and from Seoul.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Danielle Patucci to the grime 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 Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Das Ding record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
Country Teasers,
Parry Music,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Soulsonic Force,
Bootsy Collins,
The Victims,
The Mojo Men,
Charles Mingus,
Gang Gang Dance,
Underground Resistance,
Connie Case,
Danielle Patucci,
Gabor Szabo,
X-Ray Spex,
Von Mondo,
Prince Buster,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Selecter,
One Last Wish,
Wire,
Marc Almond,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Grass Roots,
Leonard Cohen,
Michelle Simonal,
Gastr Del Sol,
Grey Daturas,
Can,
The Cowsills,
Neil Young,
The Flesh Eaters,
Barry Ungar,
Chris Corsano,
Spandau Ballet,
The Detroit Cobras,
Minnie Riperton,
Tim Buckley,
Quadrant,
Pharoah Sanders,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Alice Coltrane,
the Germs,
Electric Prunes,
Ice-T,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Gang Starr,
John Lydon,
Man Eating Sloth,
Simply Red,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Aural Exciters,
Cal Tjader,
Magazine,
Soft Machine,
Grandmaster Flash,
Glambeats Corp.,
Goldenarms,
Bang On A Can,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.