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 Papua New Guinea and from Copenhagen.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Japan to the crunk 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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Lalann tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kenny Larkin 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moby Grape,
Hardrive,
Todd Rundgren,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Popol Vuh,
Arcadia,
Ultra Naté,
Camberwell Now,
Ronnie Foster,
Black Sheep,
Steve Hackett,
Wasted Youth,
La Düsseldorf,
Reuben Wilson,
X-102,
The Pretty Things,
Tommy Roe,
Pagans,
The Doors,
Alice Coltrane,
Barrington Levy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ossler,
Groovy Waters,
Alton Ellis,
10cc,
Chrome,
the Bar-Kays,
Bobby Byrd,
The Dead C,
Desert Stars,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bobby Sherman,
Tears for Fears,
John Holt,
Yellowson,
PIL,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ronan,
Technova,
The Invisible,
Sparks,
Youth Brigade,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Slits,
Audionom,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Selecter,
Section 25,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Girls At Our Best!,
Faust,
Neil Young,
The Electric Prunes,
KRS-One,
Whodini,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Fear,
Piero Umiliani,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.