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 San Marino and from Johannesburg.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 808 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 Inner City to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Cosmic Jokers. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drive Like Jehu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gladiators,
This Heat,
UT,
DNA,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gang Starr,
Ken Boothe,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Tom Boy,
Sister Nancy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Barbara Tucker,
Soulsonic Force,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Henry Cow,
Junior Murvin,
The Blackbyrds,
Dead Boys,
Terry Callier,
The Modern Lovers,
The Trojans,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Leonard Cohen,
Q and Not U,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Vladislav Delay,
48th St. Collective,
Albert Ayler,
Moss Icon,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lindisfarne,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Avey Tare,
The Barracudas,
Kas Product,
Talk Talk,
Massinfluence,
Faust,
Silicon Teens,
Essential Logic,
Newcleus,
Man Eating Sloth,
Archie Shepp,
John Lydon,
Sun Ra,
The Pretty Things,
Fad Gadget,
Black Sheep,
Easy Going,
Swell Maps,
Simply Red,
Warren Ellis,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Alice Coltrane,
Minnie Riperton,
LL Cool J,
Frankie Knuckles,
Robert Wyatt,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bronski Beat,
The Martian,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.