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 Zambia and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Pantytec to the techno 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 OOIOO. All the underground hits.
All Fat Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scan 7 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Amazonics,
Robert Hood,
Main Source,
Bobby Sherman,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Boogie Down Productions,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Crash Course in Science,
Youth Brigade,
Donald Byrd,
Monks,
Con Funk Shun,
Fluxion,
Morten Harket,
The Litter,
Toni Rubio,
Bob Dylan,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Theoretical Girls,
Sam Rivers,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bauhaus,
Joey Negro,
Livin' Joy,
Minny Pops,
Derrick Morgan,
Audionom,
Average White Band,
LL Cool J,
The Electric Prunes,
cv313,
Duran Duran,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Radiopuhelimet,
Pylon,
The Detroit Cobras,
the Soft Cell,
Roxy Music,
The Monks,
The Standells,
The Moody Blues,
Flipper,
Panda Bear,
Guru Guru,
Scan 7,
Organ,
Outsiders,
The Raincoats,
Porter Ricks,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Silicon Teens,
Max Romeo,
Public Image Ltd.,
Arthur Verocai,
The Smoke,
Severed Heads,
Piero Umiliani,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.