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 Guyana 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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 oboe 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 Motorama to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Ponytail. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
the Fania All-Stars,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Sherman,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Mummies,
Roxy Music,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Monolake,
Laurel Aitken,
Main Source,
Marshall Jefferson,
Howard Jones,
Tom Boy,
Jeff Mills,
Babytalk,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Busters,
The Invisible,
Television,
Freddie Wadling,
Kevin Saunderson,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Deadbeat,
Johnny Osbourne,
Robert Hood,
Los Fastidios,
Dual Sessions,
Piero Umiliani,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sparks,
Roy Ayers,
Sugar Minott,
The Monochrome Set,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Nick Fraelich,
Anthony Braxton,
the Human League,
kango's stein massive,
The Toasters,
Basic Channel,
Q65,
Joyce Sims,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Aaron Thompson,
the Association,
The Cosmic Jokers,
X-102,
John Lydon,
Joensuu 1685,
Young Marble Giants,
Depeche Mode,
Davy DMX,
Sam Rivers,
Marc Almond,
Scratch Acid,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Angels of Light,
Neu!,
Supertramp,
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.