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 Belarus and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 organ 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 The Mighty Diamonds to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lindisfarne. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Raincoats,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Gories,
Mad Mike,
Adolescents,
The Slits,
Mantronix,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Wake,
The Tremeloes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Talk Talk,
Danielle Patucci,
Porter Ricks,
Eve St. Jones,
Can,
Vainqueur,
Barclay James Harvest,
the Swans,
The Busters,
Black Bananas,
Althea and Donna,
Quando Quango,
Piero Umiliani,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Public Image Ltd.,
the Bar-Kays,
Hashim,
ABC,
Echospace,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Mars,
Dorothy Ashby,
Section 25,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
the Normal,
Lou Reed,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Joensuu 1685,
Andrew Hill,
Gichy Dan,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Cramps,
Excepter,
Gang of Four,
Thompson Twins,
Albert Ayler,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Mojo Men,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Searchers,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Supertramp,
Rekid,
Pantaleimon,
The Associates,
Patti Smith,
Yellowson,
The Velvet Underground,
Skarface,
Accadde A,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.