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 Tehran.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 the Association to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Jesper Dahlback. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultramagnetic MC's record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Simply Red record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cybotron,
Cal Tjader,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
These Immortal Souls,
Fela Kuti,
Brand Nubian,
Y Pants,
James White and The Blacks,
Albert Ayler,
EPMD,
Idris Muhammad,
Crash Course in Science,
Inner City,
Cameo,
Matthew Halsall,
Sonny Sharrock,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bill Near,
Skarface,
Kool Moe Dee,
Oneida,
Gichy Dan,
Mission of Burma,
Pagans,
Lower 48,
Half Japanese,
Beasts of Bourbon,
R.M.O.,
Rotary Connection,
Deepchord,
Eric Copeland,
Tubeway Army,
The Pretty Things,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Amon Düül,
David Axelrod,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Drexciya,
Neu!,
Dead Boys,
Bauhaus,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Barbara Tucker,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Harmonia,
F. McDonald,
Brothers Johnson,
Shoche,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Fad Gadget,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Animal Collective,
The Fall,
The Misunderstood,
Connie Case,
The Toasters,
Jeff Mills,
Kerri Chandler,
JFA,
Nik Kershaw, Nik Kershaw, Nik Kershaw, Nik Kershaw.
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.