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 Kenya and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Radiopuhelimet to the funk 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Names 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
The Evens,
Sandy B,
The Monochrome Set,
Morten Harket,
Talk Talk,
X-Ray Spex,
48th St. Collective,
Echospace,
The Fugs,
Swans,
Tom Boy,
Alphaville,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Swans,
Yusef Lateef,
Avey Tare,
Eve St. Jones,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Minny Pops,
Cecil Taylor,
Los Fastidios,
UT,
Jeru the Damaja,
Cluster,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Shadows of Knight,
Ten City,
EPMD,
Archie Shepp,
Eric Dolphy,
Arthur Verocai,
Stereo Dub,
Juan Atkins,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Alarm Clocks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Todd Rundgren,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sex Pistols,
Moby Grape,
Unrelated Segments,
Girls At Our Best!,
Duran Duran,
DJ Sneak,
The Invisible,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Animal Collective,
Peter and Kerry,
The Mojo Men,
Ash Ra Tempel,
ABC,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.