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 Namibia and from Mumbai.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Taipei.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Cabaret Voltaire to the grime 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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nik Kershaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
Kool Moe Dee,
Althea and Donna,
Outsiders,
Byron Stingily,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Banda Bassotti,
ABC,
Eddi Front,
Lakeside,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Juan Atkins,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Vainqueur,
T.S.O.L.,
Derrick Morgan,
One Last Wish,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Neon Judgement,
Symarip,
Roxette,
Donny Hathaway,
Section 25,
Nico,
Robert Hood,
Connie Case,
EPMD,
Stiv Bators,
Qualms,
In Retrospect,
Wolf Eyes,
Dual Sessions,
The Last Poets,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rites of Spring,
Boz Scaggs,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pulsallama,
Delta 5,
Crime,
Sonic Youth,
Steve Hackett,
Deakin,
Alice Coltrane,
Scott Walker,
the Fania All-Stars,
Idris Muhammad,
Public Image Ltd.,
Todd Rundgren,
Soft Cell,
The Gladiators,
The Gun Club,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Basic Channel,
Tim Buckley,
Adolescents,
The Real Kids,
H. Thieme,
The Barracudas,
Moebius,
Moby Grape,
Slick Rick,
James White and The Blacks, James White and The Blacks, James White and The Blacks, James White and The Blacks.
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.