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 Ivory Coast and from Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 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 Tropical Tobacco 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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Cymande tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marine Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Real Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Jandek,
The Martian,
Scott Walker,
Ludus,
Avey Tare,
The Dirtbombs,
Vladislav Delay,
Make Up,
New Age Steppers,
Moebius,
Television Personalities,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Qualms,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Erasure,
Anthony Braxton,
Icehouse,
ABC,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Piero Umiliani,
Marmalade,
Amon Düül,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Harry Pussy,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Normal,
A Certain Ratio,
Derrick May,
Bobby Womack,
James White and The Blacks,
Pussy Galore,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Beau Brummels,
Talk Talk,
Jeff Mills,
Rapeman,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Buckinghams,
The Red Krayola,
The Last Poets,
Country Teasers,
Pole,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Velvet Underground,
Don Cherry,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Roy Ayers,
Suburban Knight,
Agent Orange,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Human League,
Lalann,
The Happenings,
Q65,
Black Sheep,
Grauzone,
The Barracudas,
Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt.
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.