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 Cyprus and from Glasgow.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 synthesizer 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 Black Sheep to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobbi Humphrey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nik Kershaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
D'Angelo,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Y Pants,
Chrome,
Wally Richardson,
Ultra Naté,
Half Japanese,
Jacques Brel,
Country Teasers,
Maurizio,
The Evens,
Pulsallama,
Cheater Slicks,
Fugazi,
Mantronix,
Second Layer,
Deakin,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Invisible,
Swell Maps,
Anthony Braxton,
Monolake,
The Move,
The Gories,
Qualms,
Youth Brigade,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Electric Prunes,
Echospace,
Skaos,
Fatback Band,
Scientists,
Sonny Sharrock,
Procol Harum,
Joey Negro,
The Cosmic Jokers,
JFA,
Fluxion,
The Pretty Things,
Tommy Roe,
New Order,
Q and Not U,
The Skatalites,
Newcleus,
Minny Pops,
Model 500,
Black Flag,
Nico,
Little Man,
Jesper Dahlback,
Pussy Galore,
Jawbox,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Human League,
Malaria!,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Matthew Halsall,
The Names,
Saccharine Trust,
Gregory Isaacs,
Moebius, Moebius, Moebius, Moebius.
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.