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 Colombia and from Houston.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Liliput to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Black Sheep. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donny Hathaway record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Big Daddy Kane,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Traffic Nightmare,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Germs,
Buzzcocks,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Detroit Cobras,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Ohio Players,
Television Personalities,
Andrew Hill,
48th St. Collective,
Avey Tare,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Agent Orange,
The Blackbyrds,
The Motions,
T.S.O.L.,
Oneida,
Rhythm & Sound,
Deakin,
Soul II Soul,
Popol Vuh,
The Smoke,
Young Marble Giants,
X-Ray Spex,
D'Angelo,
DNA,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Move,
ABBA,
Arab on Radar,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Livin' Joy,
Crispian St. Peters,
Henry Cow,
the Slits,
Marc Almond,
Deadbeat,
the Soft Cell,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sex Pistols,
The J.B.'s,
Ronnie Foster,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Scion,
Girls At Our Best!,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Nick Fraelich,
John Lydon,
8 Eyed Spy,
Lightning Bolt,
Eden Ahbez,
Negative Approach,
Tres Demented,
Susan Cadogan,
Tomorrow,
The Standells,
Charles Mingus,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.