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 Gambia and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 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 Roxette to the rock 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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Ajijia Myrayebe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits 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 harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Associates record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Yusef Lateef,
The Red Krayola,
Fear,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Knickerbockers,
Tres Demented,
Accadde A,
The Smoke,
Niagra,
Alton Ellis,
Hasil Adkins,
Au Pairs,
Nas,
Ken Boothe,
Cymande,
Agitation Free,
Rekid,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Avey Tare,
R.M.O.,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Scan 7,
Hashim,
Pagans,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
the Fania All-Stars,
Deadbeat,
The Cowsills,
Minnie Riperton,
Ohio Players,
Radio Birdman,
The Beau Brummels,
Roxette,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Matthew Bourne,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pole,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Motions,
Faust,
Wasted Youth,
Joensuu 1685,
Sun City Girls,
Anakelly,
Frankie Knuckles,
Saccharine Trust,
Urselle,
Groovy Waters,
Moebius,
This Heat,
Davy DMX,
Angry Samoans,
The Dead C,
Hardrive,
the Sonics,
Bill Wells,
Alison Limerick,
Anthony Braxton,
Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare.
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.