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 East Timor and from Paris.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Letta Mbulu to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Accadde A. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arcadia,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Pantytec,
Minnie Riperton,
D'Angelo,
Monolake,
Henry Cow,
Soul II Soul,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Zero Boys,
Drive Like Jehu,
John Holt,
Symarip,
Yellowson,
Cheater Slicks,
Barrington Levy,
Masters at Work,
Lalo Schifrin,
Joe Smooth,
Aaron Thompson,
Cal Tjader,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sex Pistols,
The Doors,
The Alarm Clocks,
Laurel Aitken,
Jacques Brel,
Scan 7,
Supertramp,
Jawbox,
Michelle Simonal,
Eurythmics,
Simply Red,
The Sisters of Mercy,
the Human League,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Tim Buckley,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Youth Brigade,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Association,
Eric Copeland,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Althea and Donna,
Boogie Down Productions,
These Immortal Souls,
Smog,
The Human League,
Bill Wells,
Iggy Pop,
EPMD,
The Fall,
Ohio Players,
Josef K,
Roxy Music,
Urselle,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.