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 Taiwan and from Lille.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 X-Ray Spex to the rap 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 Bad Manners. All the underground hits.
All Howard Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slackers 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stockholm Monsters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
LL Cool J,
Rites of Spring,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Smiths,
T.S.O.L.,
Whodini,
Gang Starr,
Brick,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Cecil Taylor,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Second Layer,
Magma,
Underground Resistance,
The Gories,
Wolf Eyes,
The Misunderstood,
L. Decosne,
Judy Mowatt,
Kayak,
Laurel Aitken,
Big Daddy Kane,
Clear Light,
Ultra Naté,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Walker Brothers,
Camouflage,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Zeros,
Morten Harket,
Jacques Brel,
John Holt,
Tears for Fears,
Duran Duran,
Main Source,
Amon Düül II,
The Blackbyrds,
Jawbox,
Funkadelic,
The Vogues,
Mo-Dettes,
48th St. Collective,
Pussy Galore,
Sun City Girls,
Kurtis Blow,
Livin' Joy,
The Happenings,
Los Fastidios,
Barrington Levy,
Erasure,
Zero Boys,
Kevin Saunderson,
a-ha,
Dave Gahan,
Wally Richardson,
Michelle Simonal,
Ultravox,
Black Sheep,
Joey Negro,
Icehouse,
The Remains, The Remains, The Remains, The Remains.
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.