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 Somalia and from Mumbai.
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 Calgary and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 harpsichord 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 Erykah Badu to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Quantec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
DJ Sneak,
Dorothy Ashby,
48th St. Collective,
Chrome,
Jandek,
The Zeros,
Dead Boys,
Blossom Toes,
Colin Newman,
Moss Icon,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Tomorrow,
Cybotron,
Graham Central Station,
Clear Light,
Bootsy Collins,
Liliput,
Warren Ellis,
Deepchord,
The Standells,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Byron Stingily,
In Retrospect,
The Pop Group,
X-Ray Spex,
Crispian St. Peters,
Los Fastidios,
Organ,
the Germs,
The Busters,
Donald Byrd,
La Düsseldorf,
Saccharine Trust,
Archie Shepp,
The Raincoats,
Flamin' Groovies,
Inner City,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
A Certain Ratio,
The Index,
Talk Talk,
Minnie Riperton,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Toasters,
Main Source,
Livin' Joy,
Rotary Connection,
The Motions,
Porter Ricks,
John Holt,
The Selecter,
Joensuu 1685,
Lower 48,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Audionom,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Victims,
Absolute Body Control,
The Martian,
Boz Scaggs,
Barclay James Harvest,
Scan 7,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.