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 Somalia and from Woodstock.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Ponytail to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Crispian St. Peters,
Joe Smooth,
Jacques Brel,
Erasure,
FM Einheit,
Mantronix,
Kas Product,
Sam Rivers,
The Slackers,
Flipper,
Soul Sonic Force,
Nas,
Todd Terry,
Eli Mardock,
Moss Icon,
Sonic Youth,
Public Enemy,
Stetsasonic,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
New York Dolls,
June of 44,
The Leaves,
Little Man,
Organ,
Slick Rick,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Glenn Branca,
Sonny Sharrock,
Glambeats Corp.,
Amon Düül II,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mr. Review,
Reuben Wilson,
Negative Approach,
Man Parrish,
Rufus Thomas,
The Black Dice,
The Smoke,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Boredoms,
Massinfluence,
This Heat,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Neon Judgement,
Mad Mike,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Depeche Mode,
Lyres,
Swans,
Con Funk Shun,
Jawbox,
Harmonia,
Oneida,
Ice-T,
The Monks,
Alton Ellis,
Brothers Johnson,
Scrapy,
Alphaville,
The Searchers,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.