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 Indonesia and from Lyon.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Quadrant to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Birthday Party record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skarface record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Desert Stars,
Janne Schatter,
Infiniti,
Graham Central Station,
Derrick Morgan,
Ituana,
Gang of Four,
Danielle Patucci,
Kaleidoscope,
Spoonie Gee,
Lee Hazlewood,
Franke,
Basic Channel,
Warsaw,
Susan Cadogan,
Ice-T,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
MC5,
Althea and Donna,
Delon & Dalcan,
Juan Atkins,
Au Pairs,
Electric Light Orchestra,
X-Ray Spex,
Barrington Levy,
Mark Hollis,
Bad Manners,
Brand Nubian,
Idris Muhammad,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Deepchord,
The Blues Magoos,
Sixth Finger,
Japan,
Joe Finger,
Newcleus,
Hashim,
Sun Ra,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Human League,
Crooked Eye,
the Human League,
Archie Shepp,
Colin Newman,
Robert Wyatt,
Adolescents,
Soulsonic Force,
Tears for Fears,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Negative Approach,
Drexciya,
The Cramps,
Boz Scaggs,
Talk Talk,
Rekid,
Lower 48,
The Gories,
PIL,
Gerry Rafferty,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Index,
Malaria!,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the 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.