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 Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet 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 Ohio Players to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Man Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Stockholm Monsters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Visage 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wire,
Michelle Simonal,
Tubeway Army,
The Zeros,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Depeche Mode,
The Misunderstood,
Siglo XX,
Altered Images,
Man Parrish,
Make Up,
Ralphi Rosario,
X-101,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Sandy B,
Joe Finger,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Howard Jones,
Sound Behaviour,
Boz Scaggs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Brand Nubian,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Shadows of Knight,
Charles Mingus,
Icehouse,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Cybotron,
Tears for Fears,
Panda Bear,
The Motions,
Sun Ra,
Junior Murvin,
Deakin,
Chris Corsano,
Piero Umiliani,
The Human League,
DJ Style,
Mary Jane Girls,
Arthur Verocai,
Slick Rick,
A Certain Ratio,
Alice Coltrane,
The Smiths,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Erasure,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Standells,
Sarah Menescal,
The American Breed,
The Stooges,
Mantronix,
Patti Smith,
Lower 48,
Ice-T,
Sun City Girls,
Bootsy Collins,
Yellowson,
Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective.
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.