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 Guinea-Bissau and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Peter and Kerry to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalo Schifrin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pantytec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Bad Manners,
Marcia Griffiths,
JFA,
James White and The Blacks,
Don Cherry,
Rapeman,
Kool Moe Dee,
the Sonics,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ituana,
The Standells,
Davy DMX,
X-101,
Lyres,
the Swans,
Organ,
the Fania All-Stars,
Blake Baxter,
The Beau Brummels,
The Neon Judgement,
Mantronix,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Thee Headcoats,
Zero Boys,
Intrusion,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gang of Four,
The Fortunes,
The Wake,
The Doobie Brothers,
Byron Stingily,
Black Moon,
Derrick May,
The Remains,
The Last Poets,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Yusef Lateef,
Barbara Tucker,
Rosa Yemen,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Model 500,
Depeche Mode,
Lou Christie,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Dead C,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Newcleus,
Jacob Miller,
Quantec,
Colin Newman,
The Fugs,
Sixth Finger,
Jimmy McGriff,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Litter,
Marine Girls,
Public Image Ltd.,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.