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 St Lucia and from Jakarta.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All The Knickerbockers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Busters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
PIL,
X-102,
Skaos,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Desert Stars,
Shoche,
Skriet,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Sonics,
Peter & Gordon,
Blake Baxter,
E-Dancer,
Main Source,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Chris & Cosey,
Masters at Work,
Reuben Wilson,
Lou Christie,
Marine Girls,
Rapeman,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Neon Judgement,
Freddie Wadling,
8 Eyed Spy,
Nico,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Dennis Brown,
Ornette Coleman,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Dirtbombs,
Basic Channel,
David Axelrod,
Ituana,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Wally Richardson,
The Walker Brothers,
Chrome,
Andrew Hill,
Junior Murvin,
X-101,
Make Up,
The Divine Comedy,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Shadows of Knight,
Albert Ayler,
Arcadia,
Blossom Toes,
The Smiths,
Mo-Dettes,
Flipper,
Motorama,
Black Flag,
Sam Rivers,
The Index,
The Raincoats,
Crime,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Q and Not U,
Roxette,
Thompson Twins,
Youth Brigade,
Robert Görl,
Moebius,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.