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 Bangladesh and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Shanghai.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Human League to the electroclash 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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Sunsets and Hearts tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every London Community Gospel Choir record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dual Sessions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Dead Boys,
Radiopuhelimet,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bobby Sherman,
Rod Modell,
Lakeside,
Malaria!,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Brick,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Dead C,
Outsiders,
Stereo Dub,
Franke,
Arab on Radar,
Loose Ends,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Blackbyrds,
Hardrive,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Neon Judgement,
Brand Nubian,
Jeru the Damaja,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Andrew Hill,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Invisible,
Hot Snakes,
The Toasters,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Darondo,
Alphaville,
The Happenings,
Minor Threat,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Fugs,
Depeche Mode,
Smog,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Oneida,
Cluster,
Fatback Band,
Spoonie Gee,
Todd Rundgren,
Desert Stars,
48th St. Collective,
The Walker Brothers,
Drive Like Jehu,
The New Christs,
Thee Headcoats,
The Blues Magoos,
Quadrant,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Shadows of Knight,
Isaac Hayes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Real Kids,
Erasure,
The Move,
Tom Boy,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.