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 South Sudan and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 James Chance & The Contortions to the rap 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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Kings Of Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Basic Channel 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mars,
the Bar-Kays,
Youth Brigade,
Lalo Schifrin,
Funkadelic,
Eli Mardock,
Livin' Joy,
ABC,
Ultra Naté,
Khruangbin,
Brick,
Matthew Bourne,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Donny Hathaway,
Pole,
The Fire Engines,
Tears for Fears,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sun Ra,
F. McDonald,
Bad Manners,
D'Angelo,
Neil Young,
Steve Hackett,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Roger Hodgson,
Eve St. Jones,
Jesper Dahlback,
Thompson Twins,
Sällskapet,
Simply Red,
Darondo,
Laurel Aitken,
Susan Cadogan,
OOIOO,
Bluetip,
FM Einheit,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
China Crisis,
Boz Scaggs,
Max Romeo,
Severed Heads,
Kevin Saunderson,
Kas Product,
The Martian,
The Monks,
Stockholm Monsters,
Deepchord,
Alton Ellis,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
A Certain Ratio,
The Zeros,
The Human League,
Al Stewart,
Radio Birdman,
the Soft Cell,
The Wake,
Crash Course in Science,
Ten City,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.