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 Barbados 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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Roy Ayers to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sunsets and Hearts. All the underground hits.
All MDC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Massinfluence record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin 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?
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Aswad,
Suicide,
Sexual Harrassment,
Shoche,
Avey Tare,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Pretty Things,
the Swans,
Derrick Morgan,
Ituana,
the Soft Cell,
Von Mondo,
Moby Grape,
Amazonics,
New York Dolls,
Be Bop Deluxe,
L. Decosne,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Chris Corsano,
Fat Boys,
Interpol,
Carl Craig,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Radiohead,
the Slits,
Porter Ricks,
Circle Jerks,
Outsiders,
Urselle,
The Searchers,
Saccharine Trust,
kango's stein massive,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Barracudas,
The Gun Club,
Rites of Spring,
The Grass Roots,
Crispian St. Peters,
Yellowson,
Vainqueur,
Josef K,
The Happenings,
Laurel Aitken,
Dark Day,
E-Dancer,
The Busters,
KRS-One,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Gang Gang Dance,
Prince Buster,
Sam Rivers,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The J.B.'s,
Anakelly,
Heaven 17,
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear.
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.