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 New Zealand and from Johannesburg.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar 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 A Certain Ratio to the jazz 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 Visage. All the underground hits.
All The Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blackbyrds,
Dark Day,
Gabor Szabo,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Grey Daturas,
Black Moon,
Visage,
Kerri Chandler,
Funky Four + One,
Jeff Mills,
Ten City,
The Human League,
Boogie Down Productions,
Tommy Roe,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Techniques,
Chris & Cosey,
Eric B and Rakim,
Warren Ellis,
Crime,
Chris Corsano,
Joe Smooth,
Vainqueur,
Infiniti,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Angels of Light,
Steve Hackett,
Wings,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Cymande,
KRS-One,
Amon Düül,
Los Fastidios,
the Bar-Kays,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Scrapy,
Leonard Cohen,
The Blues Magoos,
Rosa Yemen,
Amazonics,
Jawbox,
Kurtis Blow,
Lyres,
Fugazi,
Curtis Mayfield,
Arcadia,
Yaz,
Aaron Thompson,
Suicide,
Underground Resistance,
a-ha,
Erasure,
The Black Dice,
Model 500,
E-Dancer,
Alison Limerick,
Davy DMX,
Buzzcocks,
cv313,
ABC,
Kaleidoscope,
John Lydon,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.