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 Chad and from Lagos.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The Happenings to the dance 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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Eden Ahbez tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boredoms 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 sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grauzone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord 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 Doobie Brothers,
Lungfish,
Groovy Waters,
Marcia Griffiths,
Section 25,
Fear,
Mark Hollis,
June of 44,
The Pretty Things,
the Swans,
Kurtis Blow,
ABBA,
Bob Dylan,
Marvin Gaye,
Sugar Minott,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Trojans,
Brand Nubian,
Dorothy Ashby,
F. McDonald,
Arab on Radar,
Gabor Szabo,
The Zeros,
Brothers Johnson,
Angry Samoans,
Eden Ahbez,
Sixth Finger,
Audionom,
Intrusion,
Young Marble Giants,
The Human League,
The Techniques,
Grandmaster Flash,
Swans,
Jerry's Kids,
Lakeside,
Q and Not U,
Yusef Lateef,
Quantec,
T.S.O.L.,
Harpers Bizarre,
Zero Boys,
Animal Collective,
Electric Prunes,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Drexciya,
Ten City,
The Kinks,
Fat Boys,
The Divine Comedy,
Jeff Mills,
Von Mondo,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Steve Hackett,
This Heat,
Ornette Coleman,
U.S. Maple,
The Searchers,
The Evens,
The Wake,
Tropical Tobacco,
Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red.
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.