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 Ukraine and from Manchester.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
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 Rhythim Is Rhythim to the rock 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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lindisfarne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ituana,
Heaven 17,
Malaria!,
Interpol,
The Slits,
Roger Hodgson,
The Selecter,
Amon Düül,
Blancmange,
Brand Nubian,
MDC,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
One Last Wish,
Aswad,
The Monks,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Toasters,
The Slackers,
Magma,
The Durutti Column,
Fela Kuti,
Rhythm & Sound,
the Swans,
Japan,
This Heat,
Graham Central Station,
The Music Machine,
Surgeon,
Ossler,
Funky Four + One,
Nico,
Lower 48,
Minny Pops,
Newcleus,
Au Pairs,
Minnie Riperton,
The Monochrome Set,
Radiohead,
Spandau Ballet,
Black Pus,
Todd Rundgren,
the Soft Cell,
Mo-Dettes,
The Doobie Brothers,
Jacob Miller,
MC5,
Marine Girls,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sparks,
Grey Daturas,
The American Breed,
Swans,
Quando Quango,
Model 500,
The Fortunes,
Essential Logic,
EPMD,
Depeche Mode,
Sun City Girls,
Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart.
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.