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 Fiji and from Salvador.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 arpeggiator 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Grass Roots. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Con Funk Shun record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Bob Dylan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Main Source,
Can,
This Heat,
Ornette Coleman,
Vladislav Delay,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Gang of Four,
Wire,
In Retrospect,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Yaz,
Pantytec,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Roy Ayers,
Sparks,
Lungfish,
Jesper Dahlback,
Terry Callier,
Arcadia,
Desert Stars,
Panda Bear,
Qualms,
Ponytail,
Bang On A Can,
Yazoo,
Electric Prunes,
EPMD,
Cameo,
Heaven 17,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Circle Jerks,
The Fall,
Danielle Patucci,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Nick Fraelich,
The United States of America,
Das Ding,
Angry Samoans,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Toni Rubio,
Aswad,
Connie Case,
Lalann,
Basic Channel,
Y Pants,
Aural Exciters,
Agitation Free,
Nico,
Joy Division,
Public Enemy,
Eric B and Rakim,
Kool Moe Dee,
Radiohead,
Todd Terry,
Television Personalities,
Sandy B,
Livin' Joy,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.