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 Paraguay and from Tehran.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 arpeggiator 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 Sound Behaviour to the electroclash 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 Cluster. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Angels of Light & Akron/Family record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
David Axelrod,
Ultra Naté,
FM Einheit,
Suicide,
Laurel Aitken,
Boredoms,
Jeff Lynne,
The Mojo Men,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
MDC,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rhythm & Sound,
Reuben Wilson,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Monochrome Set,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Techniques,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Lower 48,
Amon Düül II,
Q65,
Crime,
Das Ding,
Hardrive,
Darondo,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Busters,
Altered Images,
Supertramp,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Human League,
Massinfluence,
Eurythmics,
The Index,
Joy Division,
Leonard Cohen,
Fear,
Rapeman,
Clear Light,
Zapp,
Echospace,
Kas Product,
The Evens,
Accadde A,
ABBA,
Outsiders,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Soulsonic Force,
The Golliwogs,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Talk Talk,
Khruangbin,
Howard Jones,
The Dirtbombs,
Crispy Ambulance,
X-101,
Black Sheep,
Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol.
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.