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 Togo and from Toronto.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Marmalade to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Trumans Water. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Rakim,
ABC,
Bluetip,
Radiohead,
Interpol,
Al Stewart,
Brand Nubian,
Magma,
Kurtis Blow,
Smog,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Index,
Tom Boy,
Dorothy Ashby,
Davy DMX,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Trojans,
T.S.O.L.,
James White and The Blacks,
Yellowson,
Soul II Soul,
a-ha,
Con Funk Shun,
Sixth Finger,
The Gap Band,
The New Christs,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The American Breed,
The Toasters,
Quadrant,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
K-Klass,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Visage,
ABBA,
Sight & Sound,
Index,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Barracudas,
Trumans Water,
Dark Day,
The Techniques,
Unwound,
Jesper Dahlback,
Minutemen,
Sandy B,
Boz Scaggs,
Carl Craig,
Piero Umiliani,
Royal Trux,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ronnie Foster,
Matthew Halsall,
Depeche Mode,
Cymande,
the Fania All-Stars,
Porter Ricks,
Tubeway Army,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Dave Clark Five,
Silicon Teens,
Bill Wells,
John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx.
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.