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 Philippines 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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 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 Depeche Mode to the electroclash 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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Janne Schatter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deadbeat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo 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?
Gabor Szabo,
Lalo Schifrin,
Wire,
Harmonia,
Byron Stingily,
Pet Shop Boys,
Babytalk,
Drive Like Jehu,
Arab on Radar,
Althea and Donna,
Pierre Henry,
Soulsonic Force,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Invisible,
The Flesh Eaters,
Prince Buster,
The American Breed,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Wake,
the Normal,
Aswad,
Oneida,
Throbbing Gristle,
Maleditus Sound,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Fear,
The Zeros,
The Trojans,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Boogie Down Productions,
Rotary Connection,
Depeche Mode,
Max Romeo,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Joyce Sims,
Zero Boys,
Faust,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Index,
The Move,
The Smiths,
Ten City,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lou Reed,
Roxy Music,
The Slits,
Minor Threat,
Bang On A Can,
the Swans,
David Bowie,
Groovy Waters,
Model 500,
Cluster,
Connie Case,
Steve Hackett,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Alton Ellis,
Little Man,
PIL,
Yazoo,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.