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 Kazakhstan and from Delhi.
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 Paris and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Zapp to the disco 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All ABC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Fad Gadget,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Rufus Thomas,
Joy Division,
Main Source,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Cramps,
Cal Tjader,
Interpol,
Mantronix,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Last Poets,
Con Funk Shun,
Arthur Verocai,
The Happenings,
Clear Light,
Eli Mardock,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Lee Hazlewood,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gichy Dan,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fela Kuti,
Black Pus,
Sam Rivers,
Minutemen,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Vainqueur,
Quantec,
Y Pants,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Smiths,
The Real Kids,
Erasure,
the Fania All-Stars,
Stetsasonic,
Sound Behaviour,
The Monks,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Tom Boy,
Graham Central Station,
Eric B and Rakim,
LL Cool J,
Boogie Down Productions,
Blake Baxter,
Fear,
the Association,
Whodini,
This Heat,
Niagra,
Ludus,
AZ,
Spoonie Gee,
Simply Red,
Livin' Joy,
Roxette,
MDC,
Lindisfarne,
Easy Going,
Sandy B,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.