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 Poland and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Adolescents to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythim Is Rhythim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a La Düsseldorf record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Average White Band,
Blancmange,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Howard Jones,
The Saints,
Silicon Teens,
Animal Collective,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Man Parrish,
The Vogues,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Fear,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Brand Nubian,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kaleidoscope,
Cabaret Voltaire,
ABBA,
The Searchers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Lungfish,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Crispian St. Peters,
Arcadia,
Magazine,
The Smoke,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Masters at Work,
Bauhaus,
Johnny Clarke,
Quadrant,
Man Eating Sloth,
Avey Tare,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Con Funk Shun,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Country Teasers,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Motorama,
Livin' Joy,
The Real Kids,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
John Cale,
Suburban Knight,
Jacques Brel,
Leonard Cohen,
Marshall Jefferson,
Malaria!,
Althea and Donna,
Boz Scaggs,
Fatback Band,
Aaron Thompson,
Das Ding,
Main Source,
Banda Bassotti,
the Soft Cell,
Faust,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Offenders,
Unrelated Segments,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.