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 Azerbaijan and from Toronto.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 oboe 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 Intrusion to the techno 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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All Terror Squad Feat. Camron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Audionom 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Near,
Swans,
Nirvana,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Divine Comedy,
Iggy Pop,
John Coltrane,
Grauzone,
Hasil Adkins,
China Crisis,
Ornette Coleman,
Scion,
Second Layer,
Kurtis Blow,
Neu!,
Black Moon,
Cluster,
Avey Tare,
Mary Jane Girls,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Morten Harket,
Junior Murvin,
Liliput,
Unwound,
Schoolly D,
MDC,
Moss Icon,
The Monochrome Set,
DJ Sneak,
Dual Sessions,
Barbara Tucker,
PIL,
Panda Bear,
Negative Approach,
Intrusion,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Angels of Light,
Bad Manners,
The Buckinghams,
Scratch Acid,
The Barracudas,
Al Stewart,
Electric Prunes,
Dawn Penn,
Ponytail,
Smog,
Malaria!,
Cecil Taylor,
Suburban Knight,
Tears for Fears,
Hashim,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Royal Trux,
The Blues Magoos,
Bobby Byrd,
B.T. Express,
MC5,
Au Pairs,
Gil Scott Heron,
The United States of America,
Tubeway Army,
New Order, New Order, New Order, New Order.
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.