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 Benin and from Philadelphia.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the marimba 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 Fat Boys to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Amon Düül II. All the underground hits.
All Scientists tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radio Birdman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dennis Brown record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mars,
The Happenings,
Marshall Jefferson,
Buzzcocks,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Star Department,
Jacques Brel,
Zero Boys,
Boz Scaggs,
Rotary Connection,
World's Most,
Curtis Mayfield,
Rod Modell,
David Axelrod,
Black Pus,
The Golliwogs,
Kerrie Biddell,
Janne Schatter,
Dorothy Ashby,
Laurel Aitken,
Outsiders,
Drive Like Jehu,
Whodini,
Urselle,
Scratch Acid,
Television Personalities,
Bill Near,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lakeside,
Roger Hodgson,
Steve Hackett,
The Electric Prunes,
Faraquet,
Fear,
Tears for Fears,
Robert Görl,
Idris Muhammad,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Underground Resistance,
Drexciya,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Hoover,
Mandrill,
Mad Mike,
Au Pairs,
Index,
the Swans,
CMW,
Basic Channel,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Soul Sonic Force,
Motorama,
Pere Ubu,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Kerri Chandler,
a-ha,
Franke,
Sixth Finger,
Matthew Halsall,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
the Fania All-Stars,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.