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 Ghana 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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Blackbyrds to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All Desert Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gastr Del Sol record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharoah Sanders,
Wally Richardson,
Von Mondo,
E-Dancer,
The Black Dice,
Mad Mike,
the Sonics,
Michelle Simonal,
Pet Shop Boys,
Howard Jones,
MDC,
Flipper,
Technova,
Desert Stars,
Pylon,
Spoonie Gee,
The Wake,
Magma,
Charles Mingus,
The Monochrome Set,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Eric B and Rakim,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Sonics,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Litter,
Hot Snakes,
Lightning Bolt,
Yaz,
Aswad,
Q and Not U,
Eli Mardock,
Josef K,
Hasil Adkins,
The Stooges,
Minutemen,
Harry Pussy,
Infiniti,
Guru Guru,
the Human League,
Cymande,
The Flesh Eaters,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lyres,
Joy Division,
New Order,
Crooked Eye,
Terry Callier,
CMW,
The Angels of Light,
Model 500,
Neu!,
Thee Headcoats,
John Coltrane,
One Last Wish,
T. Rex,
Gregory Isaacs,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Los Fastidios,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gang Starr,
Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims.
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.