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 Turkmenistan and from Paris.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the sitar 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 Symarip to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Smiths. All the underground hits.
All Thee Headcoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minnie Riperton record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Anthony Braxton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Marine Girls,
Rites of Spring,
The Vogues,
Ten City,
Terry Callier,
Scrapy,
Bluetip,
Kerri Chandler,
DJ Style,
Lightning Bolt,
The Barracudas,
The Walker Brothers,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Eddi Front,
Accadde A,
Amazonics,
Sonic Youth,
Absolute Body Control,
Barry Ungar,
X-102,
Ronan,
Althea and Donna,
Outsiders,
Grandmaster Flash,
Juan Atkins,
Heaven 17,
Brothers Johnson,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bang On A Can,
Unrelated Segments,
Mandrill,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Vainqueur,
The Selecter,
Swell Maps,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pole,
Vladislav Delay,
Maurizio,
DJ Sneak,
Albert Ayler,
Dave Gahan,
Loose Ends,
World's Most,
Scratch Acid,
Reuben Wilson,
Robert Wyatt,
the Swans,
Khruangbin,
Bronski Beat,
The Angels of Light,
the Fania All-Stars,
Matthew Halsall,
Youth Brigade,
Masters at Work,
The Cowsills,
Bill Near,
Eric Dolphy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Siglo XX,
Pylon, Pylon, Pylon, Pylon.
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.