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 Vanuatu and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dead C to the punk 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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Dead Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Mills,
Depeche Mode,
The Fall,
The Blackbyrds,
The Dead C,
John Coltrane,
Slave,
The Litter,
The Velvet Underground,
The Modern Lovers,
Suburban Knight,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
New Order,
Inner City,
Theoretical Girls,
Gang of Four,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ultra Naté,
Bauhaus,
Black Pus,
Wolf Eyes,
Donny Hathaway,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gil Scott Heron,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Fugs,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Scientists,
Smog,
Roger Hodgson,
The Human League,
The Cramps,
Marmalade,
Mo-Dettes,
Steve Hackett,
Nirvana,
Flipper,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kayak,
Rites of Spring,
Young Marble Giants,
The Five Americans,
Black Sheep,
Alice Coltrane,
Judy Mowatt,
The Skatalites,
DJ Style,
Porter Ricks,
Faraquet,
Reagan Youth,
Andrew Hill,
Saccharine Trust,
The Smiths,
The Pop Group,
Sun City Girls,
Yazoo,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Monolake,
Silicon Teens,
Blossom Toes,
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.