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 Libya and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the rap 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 8 Eyed Spy. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Animal Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Five Americans,
Andrew Hill,
The Durutti Column,
Letta Mbulu,
The Dirtbombs,
The Walker Brothers,
Monks,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Y Pants,
Bronski Beat,
Bizarre Inc.,
Suburban Knight,
Judy Mowatt,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Oneida,
Das Ding,
Althea and Donna,
Mary Jane Girls,
Robert Görl,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Beau Brummels,
Khruangbin,
The Martian,
the Slits,
Joyce Sims,
The New Christs,
Index,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Brick,
Sarah Menescal,
Sun City Girls,
Lalo Schifrin,
Rekid,
10cc,
PIL,
Marshall Jefferson,
Skriet,
John Cale,
Soulsonic Force,
The Velvet Underground,
Au Pairs,
Soul II Soul,
Technova,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Chris & Cosey,
The Busters,
Funky Four + One,
Mad Mike,
H. Thieme,
Clear Light,
Ronnie Foster,
Kayak,
Bobby Byrd,
Arthur Verocai,
Tomorrow,
Rosa Yemen,
James White and The Blacks,
The Gladiators,
MDC,
Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar.
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.