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 Kuwait and from Calgary.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the guitar 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 In Retrospect to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All Inner City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Near record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Music Machine,
8 Eyed Spy,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ultravox,
Gang Green,
Duran Duran,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Zeros,
Mad Mike,
Marc Almond,
Soft Cell,
MC5,
Sarah Menescal,
Audionom,
Barrington Levy,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Anthony Braxton,
KRS-One,
Alison Limerick,
Junior Murvin,
The Skatalites,
Ultimate Spinach,
Robert Görl,
Rakim,
Kaleidoscope,
Camouflage,
Carl Craig,
Howard Jones,
Scion,
Hashim,
Mo-Dettes,
Traffic Nightmare,
Urselle,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ronan,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Fall,
Gil Scott Heron,
Kurtis Blow,
Ituana,
Babytalk,
Byron Stingily,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Laurel Aitken,
Roger Hodgson,
The Evens,
Sun City Girls,
Soulsonic Force,
The Cure,
Camberwell Now,
the Human League,
The J.B.'s,
Lalann,
Josef K,
David Bowie,
Barclay James Harvest,
Franke,
Maleditus Sound,
Warsaw,
Juan Atkins,
Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case.
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.