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 Russia and from Toronto.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 arpeggiator 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 Pantaleimon to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Gang Gang Dance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Absolute Body Control record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Stooges,
Wire,
Cameo,
H. Thieme,
Drive Like Jehu,
Patti Smith,
Reuben Wilson,
Brand Nubian,
Henry Cow,
Theoretical Girls,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Saints,
The Smoke,
Skriet,
The Searchers,
The Invisible,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Pole,
Dave Gahan,
Byron Stingily,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sonic Youth,
the Soft Cell,
The Mummies,
Babytalk,
The Litter,
Interpol,
Desert Stars,
The Slits,
Marine Girls,
The Leaves,
Amon Düül II,
Nik Kershaw,
DNA,
Suicide,
JFA,
Model 500,
Yaz,
Pussy Galore,
Fluxion,
Quando Quango,
Derrick Morgan,
Gichy Dan,
Circle Jerks,
Eli Mardock,
Hardrive,
Bad Manners,
Oblivians,
Zapp,
Inner City,
The Birthday Party,
Johnny Clarke,
John Cale,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Todd Terry,
48th St. Collective,
Brothers Johnson,
Infiniti,
Tom Boy,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.