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 Sweden and from Mumbai.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Reuben Wilson to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Porter Ricks. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Halsall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cosmic Jokers,
Warsaw,
ABBA,
The Beau Brummels,
Crooked Eye,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Qualms,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Cramps,
New York Dolls,
The Fortunes,
The Real Kids,
Dawn Penn,
Wire,
Arthur Verocai,
Bobby Sherman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sandy B,
Animal Collective,
Scientists,
DNA,
Sarah Menescal,
Boogie Down Productions,
Von Mondo,
David Bowie,
The Detroit Cobras,
Main Source,
Theoretical Girls,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nirvana,
Brass Construction,
Visage,
E-Dancer,
Hasil Adkins,
The Doors,
MC5,
Thee Headcoats,
Average White Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nation of Ulysses,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Dave Gahan,
These Immortal Souls,
Rakim,
Mars,
Sparks,
Cal Tjader,
Khruangbin,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Harmonia,
Fatback Band,
Minor Threat,
JFA,
Soft Cell,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Eli Mardock,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques.
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.