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 Georgia and from Salvador.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Hardrive to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Jesper Dahlback. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun City Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tommy Roe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy Collins,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Alphaville,
Rapeman,
the Soft Cell,
Minutemen,
Morten Harket,
Outsiders,
Max Romeo,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
the Germs,
Ohio Players,
Popol Vuh,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Con Funk Shun,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Busters,
Susan Cadogan,
David Axelrod,
The Motions,
Lightning Bolt,
Black Flag,
Erykah Badu,
Fear,
John Cale,
Throbbing Gristle,
Cymande,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sparks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Dead C,
Fatback Band,
Jeff Lynne,
China Crisis,
Robert Wyatt,
Radio Birdman,
Interpol,
Derrick May,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Invisible,
Q and Not U,
Silicon Teens,
The Selecter,
10cc,
Hoover,
The Golliwogs,
Freddie Wadling,
Peter and Kerry,
Echospace,
Eli Mardock,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Little Man,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Soul Sonic Force,
Scion,
Trumans Water,
Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp.
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.