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 South Sudan and from Lille.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 cv313 to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Happenings,
Camouflage,
Bad Manners,
Jacob Miller,
Model 500,
Dave Gahan,
Public Enemy,
The Alarm Clocks,
Robert Hood,
The Smoke,
Rufus Thomas,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Soft Machine,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Byron Stingily,
Stiv Bators,
The Golliwogs,
Pagans,
Brick,
Erasure,
Khruangbin,
Fluxion,
Magma,
Tres Demented,
Outsiders,
CMW,
the Germs,
Rhythm & Sound,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Flipper,
Boogie Down Productions,
Half Japanese,
Gerry Rafferty,
Vladislav Delay,
Massinfluence,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Black Bananas,
Scrapy,
Mo-Dettes,
Q and Not U,
Masters at Work,
Metal Thangz,
Donny Hathaway,
John Holt,
Banda Bassotti,
The Shadows of Knight,
Mr. Review,
Gabor Szabo,
Kerri Chandler,
The Motions,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Fall,
the Swans,
June Days,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Pylon,
Nico,
X-102,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Count Five,
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.