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 Bhutan and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Fire Engines to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pylon. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rapeman,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Icehouse,
The Cure,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Albert Ayler,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Subhumans,
Pole,
Harry Pussy,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
World's Most,
Grey Daturas,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Pere Ubu,
Alphaville,
Interpol,
Motorama,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pagans,
Essential Logic,
Eli Mardock,
Bang On A Can,
Sight & Sound,
Aural Exciters,
Deakin,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Fugazi,
Dave Gahan,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Avey Tare,
The Dead C,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
ABC,
K-Klass,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Josef K,
This Heat,
Can,
The Sound,
The Five Americans,
Hot Snakes,
Warsaw,
Spoonie Gee,
Rod Modell,
Idris Muhammad,
Groovy Waters,
The Velvet Underground,
Boogie Down Productions,
Japan,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Urselle,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Oneida,
Minny Pops,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Nico,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Hardrive,
Dawn Penn,
Sonic Youth,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.