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 Grenada and from New York.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Taipei.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the organ 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 Ludus to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Ronan. All the underground hits.
All K-Klass tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Howard Jones,
The Blackbyrds,
The Gun Club,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Chris & Cosey,
Fela Kuti,
the Soft Cell,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gang of Four,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sight & Sound,
Curtis Mayfield,
Goldenarms,
Ornette Coleman,
Clear Light,
The Electric Prunes,
The Fire Engines,
Rotary Connection,
The American Breed,
Susan Cadogan,
Negative Approach,
Maleditus Sound,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Mummies,
Kayak,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alton Ellis,
David Bowie,
Sonic Youth,
Sound Behaviour,
New York Dolls,
The Searchers,
Chrome,
The Smoke,
X-Ray Spex,
Second Layer,
Letta Mbulu,
Cluster,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sixth Finger,
Infiniti,
Erasure,
Fad Gadget,
Section 25,
Average White Band,
Piero Umiliani,
Judy Mowatt,
The Pretty Things,
Lungfish,
Eric Copeland,
Mark Hollis,
Royal Trux,
Pierre Henry,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tears for Fears,
The Victims,
Amazonics,
Kerri Chandler,
Boogie Down Productions,
Depeche Mode,
The Five Americans,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Mandrill,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.