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 Niger and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Letta Mbulu to the techno 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 Yaz. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Cell,
Glambeats Corp.,
Boredoms,
Anthony Braxton,
The Neon Judgement,
The Moody Blues,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lungfish,
Agitation Free,
Harry Pussy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Eric Dolphy,
London Community Gospel Choir,
OOIOO,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Cowsills,
Ken Boothe,
Roger Hodgson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Residents,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Visage,
AZ,
Cybotron,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ohio Players,
Frankie Knuckles,
Joey Negro,
The Moleskins,
Unrelated Segments,
E-Dancer,
La Düsseldorf,
June Days,
John Lydon,
T. Rex,
Arcadia,
Quando Quango,
Swans,
Fad Gadget,
Henry Cow,
Suicide,
The Misunderstood,
David McCallum,
Khruangbin,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Angels of Light,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Graham Central Station,
Fatback Band,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Minor Threat,
Saccharine Trust,
Matthew Bourne,
Albert Ayler,
Ralphi Rosario,
Can,
Q and Not U,
Angry Samoans,
Mark Hollis,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.