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 Azerbaijan and from Seoul.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Ultravox to the grunge 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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every kango's stein massive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Rapeman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
New York Dolls,
Ornette Coleman,
Rites of Spring,
Minnie Riperton,
The Happenings,
Grandmaster Flash,
Delta 5,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Neil Young,
Banda Bassotti,
The Smiths,
Skarface,
Kenny Larkin,
Mission of Burma,
X-101,
L. Decosne,
Black Moon,
The Gun Club,
Anakelly,
Lakeside,
Donald Byrd,
Dual Sessions,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
KRS-One,
Sarah Menescal,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ossler,
The Black Dice,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Iggy Pop,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rufus Thomas,
Yaz,
Rod Modell,
Boz Scaggs,
Clear Light,
Inner City,
John Lydon,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Letta Mbulu,
Andrew Hill,
The Cure,
Blancmange,
The Slits,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Gang Green,
Arcadia,
Gregory Isaacs,
Piero Umiliani,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Silicon Teens,
The Divine Comedy,
Arab on Radar,
Isaac Hayes,
The Mummies,
Howard Jones,
Quando Quango,
The Count Five,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.