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 Armenia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Electric Prunes to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Lynne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pet Shop Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mission of Burma,
Suicide,
Joyce Sims,
Matthew Bourne,
Mark Hollis,
Motorama,
The United States of America,
Peter and Kerry,
Ten City,
Sun Ra,
The Residents,
Drive Like Jehu,
Toni Rubio,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Vainqueur,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Byron Stingily,
Malaria!,
Scientists,
Oneida,
Erykah Badu,
Von Mondo,
Laurel Aitken,
Popol Vuh,
The Pop Group,
The Dead C,
Sixth Finger,
Gabor Szabo,
Saccharine Trust,
the Bar-Kays,
Boz Scaggs,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Freddie Wadling,
Half Japanese,
Simply Red,
The Music Machine,
Rites of Spring,
Todd Terry,
Soulsonic Force,
Aural Exciters,
Mars,
Pantytec,
Grauzone,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sarah Menescal,
Khruangbin,
The Evens,
The Busters,
The Martian,
Black Pus,
Black Moon,
Cameo,
the Slits,
the Soft Cell,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Sight & Sound,
Ultra Naté,
Alton Ellis,
Tommy Roe,
Funkadelic,
Charles Mingus,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan.
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.