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 Bhutan and from Woodstock.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pagans to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bobby Sherman. All the underground hits.
All Theoretical Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mummies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a June of 44 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Steve Hackett,
New Order,
Eurythmics,
Yazoo,
Joey Negro,
Second Layer,
a-ha,
Don Cherry,
Organ,
The Electric Prunes,
Warsaw,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Graham Central Station,
The Detroit Cobras,
Scion,
Fear,
Rakim,
The Kinks,
The Red Krayola,
DJ Style,
The Zeros,
Peter & Gordon,
Jacob Miller,
Roxette,
Shuggie Otis,
The Names,
FM Einheit,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Max Romeo,
Flash Fearless,
Robert Görl,
The Monochrome Set,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Magma,
Bluetip,
The Invisible,
Das Ding,
Audionom,
Dave Gahan,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
X-102,
Barry Ungar,
Faraquet,
The Wake,
Eric Copeland,
The Toasters,
Dark Day,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Move,
the Sonics,
Vainqueur,
Barbara Tucker,
Mission of Burma,
Crooked Eye,
The Motions,
Negative Approach,
Ponytail,
Darondo,
Outsiders,
Lyres, Lyres, Lyres, Lyres.
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.