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 El Salvador and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Motorama to the rap 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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Justin Hinds & The Dominoes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dave Clark Five,
The J.B.'s,
Liliput,
Maurizio,
The Pop Group,
Juan Atkins,
Steve Hackett,
David Bowie,
Pantytec,
Derrick May,
Underground Resistance,
Iggy Pop,
Goldenarms,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
New York Dolls,
Jeru the Damaja,
Yellowson,
Aswad,
Eve St. Jones,
Excepter,
Sonny Sharrock,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Yazoo,
Gang Starr,
kango's stein massive,
The Birthday Party,
Morten Harket,
The American Breed,
The Star Department,
OOIOO,
Average White Band,
Roxette,
Index,
Hashim,
Stetsasonic,
These Immortal Souls,
Zapp,
Andrew Hill,
Carl Craig,
Freddie Wadling,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marvin Gaye,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Oblivians,
Black Pus,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Hot Snakes,
Ponytail,
Gregory Isaacs,
U.S. Maple,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Nirvana,
The Vogues,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rod Modell,
Leonard Cohen,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Sugar Minott,
Suburban Knight,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.