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 Copenhagen.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Beau Brummels to the electroclash 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 Pulsallama. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harmonia record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro 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 chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
It's A Beautiful Day,
the Association,
The Five Americans,
Gang Green,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Carl Craig,
Bootsy Collins,
Arcadia,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Human League,
Jacob Miller,
Simply Red,
L. Decosne,
Sound Behaviour,
Funky Four + One,
The Fugs,
ABC,
Amon Düül,
Shoche,
MC5,
Yusef Lateef,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Flesh Eaters,
Au Pairs,
Wally Richardson,
Index,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
U.S. Maple,
Faraquet,
Half Japanese,
Tears for Fears,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Interpol,
Ken Boothe,
Maleditus Sound,
Gerry Rafferty,
Monolake,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Nirvana,
Sam Rivers,
Kas Product,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
X-Ray Spex,
The Blues Magoos,
Audionom,
T. Rex,
The Gap Band,
H. Thieme,
The Red Krayola,
Royal Trux,
The Litter,
Television,
Blancmange,
Aswad,
Heaven 17,
Charles Mingus,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lakeside,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood.
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.