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 Nigeria and from Glasgow.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Das Ding to the dance 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unrelated Segments record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Rundgren,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Shadows of Knight,
Malaria!,
John Lydon,
The Motions,
the Human League,
Jeru the Damaja,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lungfish,
Jerry's Kids,
Marmalade,
Franke,
Fatback Band,
The Zeros,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Deakin,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Motorama,
Tubeway Army,
The Litter,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Kevin Saunderson,
Qualms,
Tim Buckley,
Dennis Brown,
Swans,
Icehouse,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Urselle,
La Düsseldorf,
The Human League,
Fear,
Scrapy,
The Skatalites,
Magazine,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Stetsasonic,
Freddie Wadling,
Average White Band,
Steve Hackett,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
James White and The Blacks,
48th St. Collective,
Nas,
The Sound,
The Divine Comedy,
Japan,
Arcadia,
The Modern Lovers,
Traffic Nightmare,
Anakelly,
Nils Olav,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Organ,
Animal Collective,
the Sonics,
Cheater Slicks,
June Days,
The Misunderstood,
Vladislav Delay,
Faraquet,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.