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 Sudan and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Nile Rodgers 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 the Soft Cell to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Velvet Underground record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin 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?
The Raincoats,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
David Axelrod,
Big Daddy Kane,
Angry Samoans,
Whodini,
Quantec,
The Leaves,
Minutemen,
Byron Stingily,
Lucky Dragons,
Andrew Hill,
Steve Hackett,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Tomorrow,
Skaos,
Nico,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Divine Comedy,
The Fugs,
Todd Rundgren,
Outsiders,
Funky Four + One,
Wally Richardson,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
James Chance & The Contortions,
JFA,
Bobby Byrd,
Visage,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Cal Tjader,
The Gladiators,
Eric Copeland,
Quadrant,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bootsy Collins,
James White and The Blacks,
Slave,
Index,
The Durutti Column,
The Dirtbombs,
Bill Wells,
Sexual Harrassment,
Rufus Thomas,
Echospace,
Be Bop Deluxe,
the Slits,
Reuben Wilson,
The Black Dice,
Organ,
Grey Daturas,
Pulsallama,
Nils Olav,
Vainqueur,
Oneida,
Young Marble Giants,
Silicon Teens,
Wings,
The Human League,
The Slackers,
Average White Band,
Carl Craig,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.