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 Iraq 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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the organ 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 Guru Guru to the techno 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 Connie Case. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sunsets and Hearts record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
K-Klass,
Roxette,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
ABBA,
The Fire Engines,
Supertramp,
Dead Boys,
The Dirtbombs,
The Grass Roots,
Simply Red,
OOIOO,
Black Moon,
Janne Schatter,
Q and Not U,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Blackbyrds,
The Vogues,
Bizarre Inc.,
Excepter,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pantaleimon,
R.M.O.,
Pet Shop Boys,
Blancmange,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Rhythm & Sound,
Moby Grape,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Letta Mbulu,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Black Flag,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Guru Guru,
The Young Rascals,
MC5,
Davy DMX,
Mandrill,
The Smiths,
Malaria!,
Boredoms,
The Monochrome Set,
The New Christs,
Minutemen,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
the Swans,
Tom Boy,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Leaves,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Alice Coltrane,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Freddie Wadling,
Kurtis Blow,
Monks,
The Martian,
The Last Poets,
Camberwell Now,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.