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 Lithuania and from Seoul.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe 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 Red Krayola to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sex Pistols. All the underground hits.
All Darondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television Personalities,
Bizarre Inc.,
Alison Limerick,
Ossler,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Soulsonic Force,
The Gap Band,
Infiniti,
Silicon Teens,
The Litter,
Mary Jane Girls,
Section 25,
The Trojans,
Quantec,
the Association,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Brothers Johnson,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Janne Schatter,
Outsiders,
Anthony Braxton,
Josef K,
Drexciya,
Gregory Isaacs,
Skarface,
Wasted Youth,
Donny Hathaway,
Bronski Beat,
Sällskapet,
Spoonie Gee,
These Immortal Souls,
Moebius,
The Electric Prunes,
Matthew Halsall,
Magma,
Byron Stingily,
Bad Manners,
Sonic Youth,
The Zeros,
Kaleidoscope,
Funky Four + One,
Fad Gadget,
Oblivians,
Stiv Bators,
The Dead C,
The Human League,
Swans,
David Axelrod,
Lyres,
The Wake,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Monks,
X-101,
Index,
Man Parrish,
Goldenarms,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Monolake,
Grandmaster Flash,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.