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 Bangladesh and from Manchester.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the organ 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 Ultravox to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Donny Hathaway. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marine Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gichy Dan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quadrant,
Jacques Brel,
Lebanon Hanover,
Eddi Front,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Swell Maps,
A Certain Ratio,
Minor Threat,
James Chance & The Contortions,
48th St. Collective,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Kevin Saunderson,
Adolescents,
Shoche,
Warsaw,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Q and Not U,
Robert Hood,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Popol Vuh,
Khruangbin,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Livin' Joy,
Soul II Soul,
Fluxion,
Johnny Clarke,
The Cowsills,
Sister Nancy,
The Standells,
a-ha,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lakeside,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Shadows of Knight,
Q65,
Althea and Donna,
Eve St. Jones,
Frankie Knuckles,
Heaven 17,
China Crisis,
Delon & Dalcan,
MC5,
T. Rex,
Parry Music,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Gun Club,
Aswad,
Archie Shepp,
Accadde A,
The Happenings,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Modern Lovers,
The Litter,
Roy Ayers,
Soft Cell,
Dead Boys,
Fatback Band,
Japan,
Colin Newman,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.