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 Costa Rica and from Manila.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Eli Mardock to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Warren Ellis. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every E-Dancer 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
Visage,
Pharoah Sanders,
Joy Division,
Delon & Dalcan,
Motorama,
the Association,
Dorothy Ashby,
Flash Fearless,
Tears for Fears,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Banda Bassotti,
Darondo,
Index,
Skaos,
David McCallum,
Traffic Nightmare,
Scion,
Stetsasonic,
Spoonie Gee,
Stockholm Monsters,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Oblivians,
The Standells,
Idris Muhammad,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Mission of Burma,
Crispy Ambulance,
Grandmaster Flash,
Robert Wyatt,
Lightning Bolt,
The Blackbyrds,
One Last Wish,
Porter Ricks,
Janne Schatter,
New York Dolls,
Groovy Waters,
Radio Birdman,
The Moody Blues,
Sex Pistols,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gang Green,
X-101,
Pierre Henry,
The Stooges,
Nation of Ulysses,
Gong,
The Tremeloes,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Fire Engines,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Gun Club,
The Cowsills,
Echospace,
Depeche Mode,
The Five Americans,
Howard Jones,
The Star Department,
Young Marble Giants,
Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd..
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.