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 Turkmenistan and from Beijing.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Talk Talk. All the underground hits.
All Bobbi Humphrey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter & Gordon,
The Motions,
cv313,
Eric B and Rakim,
Throbbing Gristle,
Lightning Bolt,
Bob Dylan,
Rod Modell,
Johnny Clarke,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Altered Images,
The Fire Engines,
Minny Pops,
Underground Resistance,
Funkadelic,
Hoover,
The Sonics,
Nico,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pulsallama,
Intrusion,
Eve St. Jones,
PIL,
This Heat,
Television Personalities,
Roy Ayers,
Barclay James Harvest,
Dark Day,
Gabor Szabo,
Radiohead,
Saccharine Trust,
ABBA,
Eli Mardock,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Pussy Galore,
Sandy B,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Stetsasonic,
Jerry's Kids,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Chrome,
Nation of Ulysses,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
the Bar-Kays,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Knickerbockers,
the Human League,
Gong,
Grey Daturas,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Neu!,
a-ha,
The Barracudas,
The Detroit Cobras,
Soft Cell,
Black Flag,
the Association,
Darondo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Blossom Toes,
Dead Boys,
Jacques Brel,
Audionom, Audionom, Audionom, Audionom.
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.