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 Uzbekistan and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 sitar 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 H. Thieme to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Eurythmics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ralphi Rosario record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Little Man record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
Blancmange,
Bootsy Collins,
the Slits,
The Fire Engines,
Davy DMX,
48th St. Collective,
Todd Rundgren,
8 Eyed Spy,
Cymande,
New Age Steppers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Excepter,
Malaria!,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Birthday Party,
Second Layer,
Groovy Waters,
Faraquet,
Skarface,
Judy Mowatt,
Easy Going,
The Misunderstood,
Gang of Four,
Dave Gahan,
Das Ding,
The Offenders,
Sandy B,
The Durutti Column,
Michelle Simonal,
Gong,
Nation of Ulysses,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Donny Hathaway,
Bob Dylan,
Blossom Toes,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
UT,
Piero Umiliani,
Maleditus Sound,
Yellowson,
Marcia Griffiths,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Arthur Verocai,
The Sonics,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Minnie Riperton,
Rhythm & Sound,
China Crisis,
The Knickerbockers,
Crash Course in Science,
Camouflage,
Subhumans,
Derrick May,
The Toasters,
Bang On A Can,
Franke, Franke, Franke, Franke.
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.