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 Thailand and from Mumbai.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Erasure to the grime 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All The Pretty Things tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Royal Trux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cosmic Jokers,
Joe Smooth,
Roy Ayers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Be Bop Deluxe,
ABBA,
Soulsonic Force,
Toni Rubio,
Barry Ungar,
Main Source,
Laurel Aitken,
Joy Division,
Groovy Waters,
Deakin,
Camouflage,
Big Daddy Kane,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Walker Brothers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sparks,
Lee Hazlewood,
Fear,
Con Funk Shun,
The Index,
Simply Red,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Knickerbockers,
The Trojans,
Tears for Fears,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
JFA,
Mars,
Soft Cell,
The New Christs,
Thompson Twins,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Eric Dolphy,
Pussy Galore,
The Moody Blues,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Birthday Party,
Swell Maps,
Negative Approach,
The Mummies,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Average White Band,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Von Mondo,
The Techniques,
Youth Brigade,
Franke,
Todd Terry,
Aaron Thompson,
Stereo Dub,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Television,
Interpol,
Soul II Soul,
The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters.
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.