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 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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the guitar 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 Chrome to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Supertramp. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Human League record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Janne Schatter,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Curtis Mayfield,
Joy Division,
Ossler,
Brick,
Cybotron,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ken Boothe,
Reuben Wilson,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Little Man,
Frankie Knuckles,
John Lydon,
Jandek,
Pharoah Sanders,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gabor Szabo,
The Residents,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Swans,
The Human League,
Sun Ra,
New Age Steppers,
Tom Boy,
Tomorrow,
The Motions,
Magma,
The Toasters,
Blake Baxter,
Mad Mike,
Surgeon,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kevin Saunderson,
In Retrospect,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gastr Del Sol,
Glambeats Corp.,
Popol Vuh,
Moby Grape,
Nik Kershaw,
Nils Olav,
Minny Pops,
Lightning Bolt,
EPMD,
Tim Buckley,
Suicide,
Todd Terry,
Alton Ellis,
Matthew Halsall,
Essential Logic,
Bang On A Can,
Todd Rundgren,
Gang Starr,
The Blackbyrds,
Nation of Ulysses,
Scratch Acid,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ludus,
Arthur Verocai,
Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour.
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.