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 Sierra Leone and from Jakarta.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Kayak to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Victims. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Essential Logic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Inner City record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Kayak,
The Slackers,
A Certain Ratio,
Yusef Lateef,
Marvin Gaye,
Blancmange,
The Divine Comedy,
The Smiths,
Eric Dolphy,
The Fugs,
Max Romeo,
Quando Quango,
Symarip,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Mojo Men,
Fugazi,
The Saints,
Boredoms,
Matthew Halsall,
Jeff Lynne,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Fire Engines,
Tropical Tobacco,
Barry Ungar,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Young Rascals,
Essential Logic,
The Pretty Things,
Lyres,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Joy Division,
Stetsasonic,
Q and Not U,
Grey Daturas,
Erasure,
The Names,
the Fania All-Stars,
Buzzcocks,
Hot Snakes,
The Grass Roots,
PIL,
Delta 5,
The Five Americans,
Gichy Dan,
Bad Manners,
Jerry's Kids,
Yazoo,
Jawbox,
Bush Tetras,
8 Eyed Spy,
Angry Samoans,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Stooges,
Amon Düül,
the Association,
The Monks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Scratch Acid,
John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx.
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.