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 Palau 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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the guitar 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 The Mighty Diamonds to the rock 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 Deakin. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Neon Judgement record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Gang of Four,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Names,
Gastr Del Sol,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tomorrow,
Liliput,
Patti Smith,
Judy Mowatt,
Ossler,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Count Five,
Wings,
The Alarm Clocks,
Eric Dolphy,
Mandrill,
the Swans,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Mojo Men,
Aaron Thompson,
Wasted Youth,
Hoover,
Symarip,
Roxy Music,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Subhumans,
Bootsy Collins,
The Pretty Things,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Barbara Tucker,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Procol Harum,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Agitation Free,
Wire,
Kurtis Blow,
The Fugs,
Max Romeo,
Radiohead,
Deadbeat,
Bizarre Inc.,
Bad Manners,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Busters,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Derrick Morgan,
Simply Red,
Charles Mingus,
Second Layer,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
X-Ray Spex,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
L. Decosne,
The Selecter,
Massinfluence,
Basic Channel,
Tommy Roe,
Black Moon,
Leonard Cohen,
U.S. Maple,
Faraquet,
Rod Modell,
Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless.
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.