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 Poland and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 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 Letta Mbulu to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Selecter. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rod Modell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Porter Ricks,
Gastr Del Sol,
Nas,
Monks,
Crispian St. Peters,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Drexciya,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Busters,
Nik Kershaw,
Goldenarms,
Sister Nancy,
Anakelly,
MDC,
Massinfluence,
Bobby Sherman,
Yellowson,
Mr. Review,
The Standells,
Tom Boy,
Organ,
Fugazi,
Rufus Thomas,
David Axelrod,
the Soft Cell,
Althea and Donna,
Jeff Mills,
Theoretical Girls,
Wally Richardson,
Zero Boys,
Lyres,
Hot Snakes,
Gil Scott Heron,
Black Flag,
Funkadelic,
Spoonie Gee,
the Association,
Thompson Twins,
8 Eyed Spy,
Deakin,
Talk Talk,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Warsaw,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tommy Roe,
Howard Jones,
Television,
Excepter,
The Gun Club,
Roger Hodgson,
Mad Mike,
The Count Five,
T.S.O.L.,
Letta Mbulu,
John Cale,
Isaac Hayes,
New York Dolls,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Public Image Ltd.,
Oneida,
Amon Düül,
Bauhaus,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.