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 Brazil 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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Surgeon to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Maurizio. All the underground hits.
All The Mighty Diamonds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Altered Images record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nils Olav,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Tremeloes,
UT,
Section 25,
Dual Sessions,
Donny Hathaway,
Fat Boys,
Throbbing Gristle,
John Holt,
Guru Guru,
AZ,
Sixth Finger,
Sun Ra,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Crispian St. Peters,
Blake Baxter,
Sound Behaviour,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Fire Engines,
The Wake,
Gang Gang Dance,
Barry Ungar,
Lower 48,
Scrapy,
The Slits,
Infiniti,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Fluxion,
Pere Ubu,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Popol Vuh,
Peter & Gordon,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Dark Day,
Alton Ellis,
The Five Americans,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Frankie Knuckles,
Masters at Work,
Radiohead,
The Sound,
The Moleskins,
The Martian,
Terry Callier,
The Durutti Column,
The Move,
Susan Cadogan,
Kenny Larkin,
Radiopuhelimet,
Soul II Soul,
Electric Prunes,
EPMD,
Aloha Tigers,
Lakeside,
Jimmy McGriff,
Shuggie Otis,
Roxy Music,
Lungfish,
Chris & Cosey,
These Immortal Souls,
Sun City Girls,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.