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 Vanuatu and from Woodstock.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Madrid.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 DJ Style to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mission of Burma record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rites of Spring record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kenny Larkin,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jimmy McGriff,
The Leaves,
Roxette,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mantronix,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Soulsonic Force,
The Fortunes,
Eric Copeland,
Swans,
Cecil Taylor,
Erasure,
Roger Hodgson,
The Beau Brummels,
Whodini,
The Gories,
Zero Boys,
Thee Headcoats,
Cluster,
Peter & Gordon,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lou Reed,
Rekid,
Section 25,
The United States of America,
The Standells,
The Smiths,
Gang Gang Dance,
Pole,
Kevin Saunderson,
Sister Nancy,
Lungfish,
Gastr Del Sol,
Schoolly D,
Deakin,
Sam Rivers,
The Mummies,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Vogues,
Ultra Naté,
Pulsallama,
Roxy Music,
Cymande,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Tomorrow,
Absolute Body Control,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Animal Collective,
Model 500,
the Swans,
James White and The Blacks,
The Blackbyrds,
Hashim,
Second Layer,
The Blues Magoos,
Das Ding,
Dead Boys,
Anakelly,
Excepter,
Frankie Knuckles,
Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7.
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.