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 Kosovo and from Shanghai.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Mr. Review to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Main Source. All the underground hits.
All Symarip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Davy DMX record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shoche,
Agent Orange,
Visage,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pagans,
Panda Bear,
The Gap Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Buzzcocks,
Lou Christie,
Hardrive,
Ultra Naté,
Reuben Wilson,
Bobby Sherman,
Zero Boys,
The Mummies,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Camberwell Now,
Minor Threat,
Ponytail,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Eric B and Rakim,
Radio Birdman,
The Toasters,
Cluster,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Aural Exciters,
Nirvana,
Dennis Brown,
Tommy Roe,
Pharoah Sanders,
Josef K,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Kayak,
Albert Ayler,
Delta 5,
the Fania All-Stars,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Martian,
Sun City Girls,
Sandy B,
Nick Fraelich,
E-Dancer,
Barclay James Harvest,
Goldenarms,
Scott Walker,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
B.T. Express,
Television Personalities,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Essential Logic,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Echospace,
Joey Negro,
Fatback Band,
Joe Finger,
The Slackers,
Cybotron,
Quadrant,
Darondo,
Kenny Larkin,
Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson.
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.