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 Malawi and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Donald Byrd to the funk 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 Doobie Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Lucky Dragons tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Schoolly D record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fugazi,
The Shadows of Knight,
Groovy Waters,
Cecil Taylor,
Nas,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Dave Clark Five,
Susan Cadogan,
Livin' Joy,
Reagan Youth,
Terrestrial Tones,
Massinfluence,
Ornette Coleman,
Max Romeo,
Yellowson,
Television Personalities,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Count Five,
Tres Demented,
Talk Talk,
The Zeros,
Arthur Verocai,
Unrelated Segments,
Harmonia,
Main Source,
Sugar Minott,
Brick,
Althea and Donna,
Suicide,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Trojans,
Erasure,
48th St. Collective,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Al Stewart,
Laurel Aitken,
Mandrill,
Clear Light,
Alphaville,
Theoretical Girls,
The Offenders,
Guru Guru,
Eve St. Jones,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Associates,
The Selecter,
The Fall,
Cymande,
The Searchers,
Japan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Bob Dylan,
Animal Collective,
The Smiths,
Scan 7,
Morten Harket,
Dennis Brown,
John Coltrane,
Smog,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.