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 Bahrain and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Gil Scott Heron to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Camberwell Now. All the underground hits.
All Peter and Kerry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
Excepter,
Talk Talk,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Technova,
Sun Ra,
MDC,
The Angels of Light,
Marc Almond,
Unwound,
U.S. Maple,
the Swans,
Glambeats Corp.,
Duran Duran,
Byron Stingily,
Thompson Twins,
Black Moon,
The Index,
Derrick Morgan,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Reuben Wilson,
8 Eyed Spy,
Procol Harum,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Oneida,
Bush Tetras,
Scientists,
Tim Buckley,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Absolute Body Control,
China Crisis,
Flamin' Groovies,
Steve Hackett,
Tears for Fears,
Rekid,
Soulsonic Force,
Zapp,
Saccharine Trust,
Barry Ungar,
Erasure,
Gichy Dan,
the Slits,
John Holt,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Funkadelic,
Bill Wells,
The Blues Magoos,
Warren Ellis,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Icehouse,
The Golliwogs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Ultra Naté,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Jeru the Damaja,
Fear,
Dawn Penn,
Kurtis Blow,
The Electric Prunes,
Godley & Creme,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.