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 Guatemala and from Paris.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Henry Cow to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gary Puckett & The Union Gap 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cluster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Angels of Light,
La Düsseldorf,
Fluxion,
The Skatalites,
Donald Byrd,
Franke,
Wire,
Agent Orange,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Godley & Creme,
The United States of America,
The Fugs,
Ronan,
Gong,
Laurel Aitken,
Junior Murvin,
Marc Almond,
Dawn Penn,
The Golliwogs,
Yellowson,
Little Man,
Quando Quango,
Slave,
Absolute Body Control,
Arcadia,
The Evens,
Section 25,
Unwound,
Soft Machine,
Skarface,
X-Ray Spex,
The Mojo Men,
Lyres,
Derrick Morgan,
Organ,
Glambeats Corp.,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Half Japanese,
Sonic Youth,
Harpers Bizarre,
Joensuu 1685,
Barrington Levy,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Cal Tjader,
Charles Mingus,
Tommy Roe,
Crash Course in Science,
Visage,
Heaven 17,
The Sound,
Maurizio,
Roxette,
Kevin Saunderson,
the Bar-Kays,
Nas,
Public Image Ltd.,
Rotary Connection,
Isaac Hayes,
Matthew Halsall,
Magazine,
The Pop Group, The Pop Group, The Pop Group, The Pop Group.
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.