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 Thailand and from London.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Bang On A Can to the dance 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 Shoche. All the underground hits.
All The Fall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter & Gordon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Franke,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Scrapy,
Quadrant,
Skarface,
Howard Jones,
PIL,
Joe Smooth,
Marine Girls,
Nas,
The Saints,
The Slits,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pantaleimon,
Throbbing Gristle,
Donald Byrd,
Index,
Stockholm Monsters,
Heaven 17,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Bush Tetras,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Crispy Ambulance,
Morten Harket,
Brick,
The Martian,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Mission of Burma,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rod Modell,
Whodini,
Pantytec,
Television,
Scan 7,
A Certain Ratio,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sarah Menescal,
Spandau Ballet,
Minnie Riperton,
Fatback Band,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Warsaw,
Letta Mbulu,
Swell Maps,
Talk Talk,
The Smiths,
Faust,
Ken Boothe,
Pagans,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Detroit Cobras,
Maleditus Sound,
Thompson Twins,
Erykah Badu,
The Real Kids,
Robert Wyatt,
Oneida,
June of 44,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Doobie Brothers,
Livin' Joy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.