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 Guinea-Bissau and from Sao Paulo.
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 Tokyo and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Lalann to the techno 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 The Jesus and Mary Chain. All the underground hits.
All Gerry Rafferty tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Index record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Techniques record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Cameo,
Dorothy Ashby,
Eric Copeland,
Kas Product,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Gories,
Malaria!,
Gang Starr,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Knickerbockers,
David Axelrod,
Avey Tare,
Average White Band,
Bauhaus,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Laurel Aitken,
The Busters,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Tears for Fears,
Gil Scott Heron,
Flamin' Groovies,
Tres Demented,
Scratch Acid,
Parry Music,
Fear,
Khruangbin,
Alice Coltrane,
Mark Hollis,
The Blackbyrds,
Curtis Mayfield,
Pere Ubu,
Alton Ellis,
Deakin,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Modern Lovers,
the Swans,
Lebanon Hanover,
Grandmaster Flash,
Henry Cow,
Dead Boys,
The Dave Clark Five,
Derrick Morgan,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Terry Callier,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Scan 7,
Sex Pistols,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Soul II Soul,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Human League,
James White and The Blacks,
U.S. Maple,
Godley & Creme,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
T.S.O.L.,
Tim Buckley,
The Misunderstood,
Newcleus, Newcleus, Newcleus, Newcleus.
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.