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 Rwanda 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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Nils Olav to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra 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 punk 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 an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Be Bop Deluxe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pussy Galore,
Neil Young,
Morten Harket,
The Cramps,
Ralphi Rosario,
Moss Icon,
Andrew Hill,
OOIOO,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Litter,
Agitation Free,
Lebanon Hanover,
Jimmy McGriff,
La Düsseldorf,
Sugar Minott,
Massinfluence,
Crispian St. Peters,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Reagan Youth,
The Cure,
EPMD,
The Wake,
Electric Prunes,
Matthew Halsall,
The Fire Engines,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Raincoats,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bobby Byrd,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nas,
Shuggie Otis,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Urselle,
New York Dolls,
Alice Coltrane,
Pere Ubu,
Carl Craig,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
DJ Style,
Fear,
Rekid,
Michelle Simonal,
Slave,
The Flesh Eaters,
Au Pairs,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Godley & Creme,
Hashim,
Gang of Four,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dead Boys,
Subhumans,
The Stooges,
Grandmaster Flash,
Intrusion,
Soft Cell,
Cluster,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eddi Front,
Procol Harum,
Pierre Henry,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.