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 Estonia and from Edmonton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
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 the Swans to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All Maurizio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crooked Eye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Franke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lower 48,
Lindisfarne,
Sexual Harrassment,
Gang Starr,
Rod Modell,
Zapp,
Frankie Knuckles,
R.M.O.,
Underground Resistance,
Isaac Hayes,
Saccharine Trust,
The Vogues,
The Count Five,
Metal Thangz,
Ponytail,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bob Dylan,
Cecil Taylor,
Agitation Free,
Stetsasonic,
Yellowson,
Ken Boothe,
The New Christs,
Pierre Henry,
Big Daddy Kane,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mo-Dettes,
Howard Jones,
Smog,
China Crisis,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Yusef Lateef,
Prince Buster,
Qualms,
The Move,
Ultravox,
Grauzone,
Boogie Down Productions,
Deakin,
Das Ding,
Rufus Thomas,
Barrington Levy,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Eve St. Jones,
Sam Rivers,
Juan Atkins,
Severed Heads,
Rosa Yemen,
The Victims,
Morten Harket,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Index,
Neu!,
Lee Hazlewood,
Hardrive,
Radio Birdman,
EPMD,
Popol Vuh,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Neil Young,
Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan.
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.