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 Algeria 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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
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 The Associates to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 the Slits. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Carl Craig record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Smooth,
The Pretty Things,
Jandek,
Jerry's Kids,
Magma,
the Human League,
a-ha,
Chrome,
Public Image Ltd.,
Crispian St. Peters,
Theoretical Girls,
Big Daddy Kane,
Pole,
Bobby Byrd,
Popol Vuh,
The United States of America,
Nik Kershaw,
Negative Approach,
X-Ray Spex,
48th St. Collective,
The Blackbyrds,
New Order,
B.T. Express,
Yazoo,
Boz Scaggs,
Throbbing Gristle,
Simply Red,
Lalo Schifrin,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
These Immortal Souls,
Agent Orange,
Ornette Coleman,
The Electric Prunes,
Alison Limerick,
Sister Nancy,
MDC,
Shuggie Otis,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pere Ubu,
Girls At Our Best!,
Soft Cell,
Peter & Gordon,
Idris Muhammad,
Gang Gang Dance,
Minny Pops,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Average White Band,
D'Angelo,
Gong,
Scrapy,
Sarah Menescal,
Sun Ra,
Neu!,
The Alarm Clocks,
Niagra,
Soulsonic Force,
Qualms,
Japan,
The Slackers,
The J.B.'s,
Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp..
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.