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 Australia and from Manila.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Pet Shop Boys to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jerry Gold Smith. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Gories,
Organ,
Amazonics,
James White and The Blacks,
Todd Rundgren,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sugar Minott,
Agent Orange,
Cameo,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Delon & Dalcan,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Selecter,
The Searchers,
Camberwell Now,
Shuggie Otis,
The Martian,
Skaos,
Babytalk,
Pussy Galore,
Thee Headcoats,
The Last Poets,
The Kinks,
Hardrive,
Dawn Penn,
The Doobie Brothers,
Slave,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Masters at Work,
Cybotron,
Janne Schatter,
Rekid,
Boogie Down Productions,
Panda Bear,
Letta Mbulu,
Steve Hackett,
10cc,
The Angels of Light,
Matthew Bourne,
The New Christs,
Mad Mike,
MC5,
Bronski Beat,
The Alarm Clocks,
the Human League,
Urselle,
Altered Images,
Gil Scott Heron,
Boz Scaggs,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Groovy Waters,
Barbara Tucker,
OOIOO,
Q65,
EPMD,
Althea and Donna,
the Sonics,
Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy.
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.