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 Comoros and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Tropical Tobacco to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Danielle Patucci. All the underground hits.
All Lightning Bolt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Surgeon 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blossom Toes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Grauzone,
U.S. Maple,
Alison Limerick,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Sound,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Monks,
Soul II Soul,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Vainqueur,
Lalo Schifrin,
Josef K,
Scientists,
Rapeman,
X-Ray Spex,
Janne Schatter,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Sherman,
The Doobie Brothers,
Mark Hollis,
Althea and Donna,
Whodini,
Joe Smooth,
Desert Stars,
The Standells,
Erasure,
David McCallum,
Oblivians,
The Fugs,
Organ,
Outsiders,
Thee Headcoats,
Gang Starr,
Eric B and Rakim,
Swans,
Black Flag,
Zapp,
The Music Machine,
Jawbox,
Kenny Larkin,
Easy Going,
Anthony Braxton,
Funkadelic,
The Invisible,
ABBA,
Rosa Yemen,
Iggy Pop,
Byron Stingily,
Negative Approach,
Jerry's Kids,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Patti Smith,
the Human League,
Q and Not U,
Quando Quango,
Pere Ubu,
This Heat,
Swell Maps,
Nirvana,
Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox.
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.