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 Malawi and from Spokane.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Bill Wells to the disco 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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Soft Cell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Essential Logic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moleskins,
the Soft Cell,
Qualms,
Arab on Radar,
Clear Light,
Nik Kershaw,
The Monks,
Symarip,
The Trojans,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Make Up,
The Dirtbombs,
The Fall,
Erykah Badu,
Newcleus,
David McCallum,
The Gladiators,
Electric Prunes,
Lungfish,
Surgeon,
Neu!,
Brand Nubian,
Mad Mike,
The Slackers,
David Axelrod,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Goldenarms,
Shoche,
The Human League,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Public Enemy,
Pharoah Sanders,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Schoolly D,
The Star Department,
Japan,
Kurtis Blow,
Radio Birdman,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Misunderstood,
Quantec,
Underground Resistance,
L. Decosne,
Delta 5,
Michelle Simonal,
Piero Umiliani,
the Human League,
CMW,
Minnie Riperton,
Gang of Four,
Darondo,
Connie Case,
Roy Ayers,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Walker Brothers,
The Blues Magoos,
FM Einheit,
Terry Callier,
The Kinks,
The Fire Engines,
Rosa Yemen,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.