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 Norway and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Pierre Henry to the funk 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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All Yaz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smoke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cameo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Carl Craig,
The Monochrome Set,
June Days,
Moebius,
Big Daddy Kane,
LL Cool J,
Rosa Yemen,
Arcadia,
Ken Boothe,
Schoolly D,
The Barracudas,
The Names,
Hashim,
the Human League,
Ohio Players,
Electric Prunes,
The Seeds,
Motorama,
Jacob Miller,
Pagans,
Nik Kershaw,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Desert Stars,
Aloha Tigers,
Mars,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Smiths,
The Grass Roots,
PIL,
Fad Gadget,
Wolf Eyes,
Chris & Cosey,
Marmalade,
Althea and Donna,
Cecil Taylor,
Tom Boy,
Jacques Brel,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Standells,
Juan Atkins,
The Zeros,
Maurizio,
Tropical Tobacco,
Gregory Isaacs,
Moby Grape,
Zero Boys,
Flipper,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Agitation Free,
The Buckinghams,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Moleskins,
Funkadelic,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Moody Blues,
Ultimate Spinach,
Patti Smith,
Iggy Pop, Iggy Pop, Iggy Pop, Iggy Pop.
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.