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 Cambodia and from Philadelphia.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ 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 The Golliwogs to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Beau Brummels record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Loose Ends,
The Grass Roots,
John Foxx,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Easy Going,
Pylon,
Cameo,
The Motions,
The Electric Prunes,
The Fall,
Junior Murvin,
Public Image Ltd.,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Don Cherry,
The Sound,
DJ Style,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Camouflage,
Mark Hollis,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sarah Menescal,
Con Funk Shun,
B.T. Express,
Ice-T,
Whodini,
Brick,
Pulsallama,
Echospace,
The Monks,
Gichy Dan,
Visage,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Pop Group,
This Heat,
Fad Gadget,
Adolescents,
Camberwell Now,
The Skatalites,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eric B and Rakim,
In Retrospect,
Rapeman,
Donny Hathaway,
Siglo XX,
Spoonie Gee,
Wire,
The Music Machine,
Albert Ayler,
Sister Nancy,
Chris Corsano,
The Slits,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Gladiators,
Desert Stars,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Nico,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Niagra,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.