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 Poland and from Tokyo.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Jakarta.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Be Bop Deluxe to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bill Wells. All the underground hits.
All Camouflage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Buzzcocks,
K-Klass,
The Divine Comedy,
Ultra Naté,
the Association,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Rapeman,
Whodini,
Chris & Cosey,
Young Marble Giants,
Lalo Schifrin,
Alphaville,
Junior Murvin,
T.S.O.L.,
The Neon Judgement,
Bill Near,
Magma,
A Certain Ratio,
Joe Smooth,
AZ,
ABC,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Radiohead,
Soft Cell,
Anthony Braxton,
Procol Harum,
Television,
Y Pants,
Stereo Dub,
David McCallum,
D'Angelo,
Motorama,
Altered Images,
Dual Sessions,
Fat Boys,
Mr. Review,
Smog,
Aural Exciters,
Cymande,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kool Moe Dee,
Peter and Kerry,
Marshall Jefferson,
Urselle,
Dark Day,
The Gap Band,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Buckinghams,
Neu!,
Fela Kuti,
The Gories,
ABBA,
Ornette Coleman,
Danielle Patucci,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Negative Approach,
Big Daddy Kane,
Joe Finger,
Gang of Four,
Lindisfarne,
Magazine,
The Litter,
Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins.
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.