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 Slovakia and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 LL Cool J to the techno 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 A Flock of Seagulls. All the underground hits.
All The Happenings tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moebius,
Agent Orange,
Skaos,
Sonic Youth,
Hoover,
Bluetip,
Faust,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Jeff Lynne,
Warsaw,
Brand Nubian,
Accadde A,
Funky Four + One,
F. McDonald,
Television Personalities,
The Cramps,
Pulsallama,
Buzzcocks,
The American Breed,
the Soft Cell,
Half Japanese,
The Young Rascals,
The Residents,
Joey Negro,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The United States of America,
Banda Bassotti,
Porter Ricks,
Ultravox,
Tom Boy,
Nico,
Henry Cow,
Lou Christie,
This Heat,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Young Marble Giants,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Newcleus,
Piero Umiliani,
PIL,
The Human League,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kaleidoscope,
The Invisible,
Joe Finger,
Judy Mowatt,
The Seeds,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Idris Muhammad,
Von Mondo,
Soul II Soul,
Magma,
Rufus Thomas,
Stockholm Monsters,
Crime,
Japan,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ice-T,
Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus.
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.