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 Laos and from Lyon.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 harpsichord 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 Gang Gang Dance to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Marc Almond tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cybotron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Parrish,
Arcadia,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Boredoms,
Yaz,
Thee Headcoats,
Agent Orange,
Slick Rick,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Sarah Menescal,
The Toasters,
The Blackbyrds,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Darondo,
Electric Light Orchestra,
John Holt,
Brothers Johnson,
Fluxion,
Soft Cell,
Swell Maps,
The Angels of Light,
Gerry Rafferty,
John Lydon,
The Blues Magoos,
Grey Daturas,
Ornette Coleman,
Henry Cow,
Aswad,
PIL,
Terry Callier,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Crime,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Standells,
Massinfluence,
The Detroit Cobras,
the Fania All-Stars,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Donald Byrd,
Crooked Eye,
Alice Coltrane,
The Human League,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Wolf Eyes,
The Evens,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bobby Womack,
Sandy B,
Lyres,
Althea and Donna,
Mandrill,
Alton Ellis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Gladiators,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Doors,
Judy Mowatt,
Pierre Henry,
Moss Icon,
The Mummies,
Junior Murvin,
The United States of America, The United States of America, The United States of America, The United States of America.
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.