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 Costa Rica and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Suicide to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Letta Mbulu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer 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 snare and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
Von Mondo,
Minor Threat,
The Monochrome Set,
Lou Reed,
Technova,
EPMD,
Pole,
Albert Ayler,
Arcadia,
Alphaville,
Moebius,
Pierre Henry,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rotary Connection,
Banda Bassotti,
The Detroit Cobras,
Barry Ungar,
Camberwell Now,
48th St. Collective,
Terry Callier,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jeff Lynne,
Bluetip,
Nirvana,
New Order,
The Black Dice,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sexual Harrassment,
Delon & Dalcan,
Stiv Bators,
the Swans,
Todd Rundgren,
John Coltrane,
Ice-T,
Guru Guru,
Kaleidoscope,
Lakeside,
Joey Negro,
Al Stewart,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Trumans Water,
Sparks,
H. Thieme,
Blancmange,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Shadows of Knight,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Subhumans,
Outsiders,
Goldenarms,
Loose Ends,
The Cowsills,
Cal Tjader,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Procol Harum,
Crispy Ambulance,
Andrew Hill,
Average White Band,
Porter Ricks,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.