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 Albania and from Bremen.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 oboe 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 Lungfish to the rock 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 Sly & The Family Stone. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minutemen,
Patti Smith,
Sun City Girls,
The Sonics,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bootsy Collins,
H. Thieme,
The Dave Clark Five,
Mark Hollis,
Cybotron,
Pulsallama,
Matthew Halsall,
Trumans Water,
Piero Umiliani,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Girls At Our Best!,
Qualms,
Dennis Brown,
the Association,
Scott Walker,
Pylon,
Swans,
Mission of Burma,
Rekid,
Marine Girls,
The Invisible,
New Order,
Hardrive,
Yaz,
Darondo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jacques Brel,
Joe Smooth,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Yusef Lateef,
Alton Ellis,
Wings,
Bob Dylan,
Essential Logic,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
MC5,
Flipper,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Cluster,
cv313,
The Slackers,
Banda Bassotti,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Spandau Ballet,
Drive Like Jehu,
Iggy Pop,
Blake Baxter,
Soft Machine,
Joy Division,
Blancmange,
Marmalade,
Bronski Beat,
Chris & Cosey,
Fluxion,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ponytail,
Cymande,
The Moleskins, The Moleskins, The Moleskins, The Moleskins.
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.