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 Djibouti and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Piero Umiliani 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 Babytalk. All the underground hits.
All Smog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Easy Going record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Frankie Knuckles record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marshall Jefferson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
John Holt,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Japan,
Black Bananas,
Barclay James Harvest,
Royal Trux,
Sarah Menescal,
The Busters,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kayak,
Black Flag,
Eden Ahbez,
Jimmy McGriff,
Half Japanese,
Curtis Mayfield,
Cheater Slicks,
Chris Corsano,
Big Daddy Kane,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Roxy Music,
Malaria!,
Danielle Patucci,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Panda Bear,
Marcia Griffiths,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sex Pistols,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Human League,
Icehouse,
Stereo Dub,
New Age Steppers,
Silicon Teens,
Flipper,
The Toasters,
Second Layer,
Sun Ra,
Rites of Spring,
Eurythmics,
The Star Department,
Arcadia,
DJ Style,
Connie Case,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Byron Stingily,
Janne Schatter,
Tom Boy,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Grass Roots,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Count Five,
Little Man,
The New Christs,
Man Parrish,
Pet Shop Boys,
Todd Terry,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.