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 Latvia and from Bologna.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Faust to the funk 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 The Trojans. All the underground hits.
All The Gap Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Susan Cadogan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
Black Moon,
The Skatalites,
Gang of Four,
Heaven 17,
Vainqueur,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Inner City,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Reuben Wilson,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Sex Pistols,
The Neon Judgement,
Ronan,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lalo Schifrin,
Eric Dolphy,
Charles Mingus,
48th St. Collective,
Marmalade,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Patti Smith,
Slick Rick,
Sound Behaviour,
Radiopuhelimet,
Sight & Sound,
Jeff Lynne,
Gang Gang Dance,
Neu!,
Amon Düül,
Depeche Mode,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Peter and Kerry,
Sexual Harrassment,
Deakin,
Gabor Szabo,
Motorama,
Ronnie Foster,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Durutti Column,
Aswad,
Hashim,
Frankie Knuckles,
Al Stewart,
Yellowson,
Cybotron,
The Kinks,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The J.B.'s,
Dual Sessions,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Theoretical Girls,
Bizarre Inc.,
Gerry Rafferty,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ituana,
Gil Scott Heron,
Anthony Braxton,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.