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 Liberia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Q and Not U to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Urselle. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Music Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
PIL,
Stetsasonic,
Eric Dolphy,
The Human League,
Aural Exciters,
The Pop Group,
Hashim,
KRS-One,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Black Dice,
The Offenders,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Derrick Morgan,
Peter and Kerry,
June of 44,
ABBA,
New York Dolls,
The Music Machine,
Gil Scott Heron,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Smiths,
Cluster,
The Fuzztones,
Spandau Ballet,
The Last Poets,
Aswad,
The Velvet Underground,
ABC,
LL Cool J,
FM Einheit,
Rites of Spring,
Babytalk,
Toni Rubio,
Susan Cadogan,
The Buckinghams,
Man Parrish,
Alice Coltrane,
Lalo Schifrin,
Funky Four + One,
Roxy Music,
Spoonie Gee,
Pere Ubu,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Scratch Acid,
the Fania All-Stars,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Tremeloes,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Dual Sessions,
Organ,
Vladislav Delay,
The Happenings,
Donny Hathaway,
Cameo,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sister Nancy,
Mission of Burma,
Frankie Knuckles,
Cecil Taylor,
John Holt,
Royal Trux,
Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front.
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.