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 Dominican Republic and from Winnipeg.
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 Delhi and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Lou Reed & Metallica to the grunge 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 Oblivians. All the underground hits.
All Quando Quango tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thompson Twins 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Neon Judgement,
Barbara Tucker,
Wolf Eyes,
The Misunderstood,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Flesh Eaters,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Soft Cell,
Hasil Adkins,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The J.B.'s,
Leonard Cohen,
Warren Ellis,
Ossler,
the Soft Cell,
Main Source,
Moby Grape,
The Litter,
Skaos,
Altered Images,
Funky Four + One,
Don Cherry,
Drive Like Jehu,
China Crisis,
Sonic Youth,
Half Japanese,
Terry Callier,
Easy Going,
The Invisible,
Pantytec,
Cheater Slicks,
Scientists,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jacques Brel,
The Durutti Column,
Black Flag,
Kurtis Blow,
Agitation Free,
The Knickerbockers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ice-T,
Guru Guru,
Second Layer,
Ten City,
Qualms,
Throbbing Gristle,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Shadows of Knight,
Prince Buster,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Mad Mike,
Godley & Creme,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Fuzztones,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Deadbeat,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.