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 Malawi and from Columbus.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 mellotron 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 Cecil Taylor to the techno 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 Offenders. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aloha Tigers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Human League,
Matthew Halsall,
Zero Boys,
Oneida,
Scratch Acid,
Pet Shop Boys,
Newcleus,
Donald Byrd,
Dave Gahan,
Monolake,
Chris & Cosey,
Second Layer,
Lyres,
Tears for Fears,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Harpers Bizarre,
Faraquet,
Morten Harket,
Average White Band,
kango's stein massive,
Aural Exciters,
Freddie Wadling,
DJ Style,
Hot Snakes,
Drexciya,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
EPMD,
Basic Channel,
Laurel Aitken,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Victims,
Ronan,
Sight & Sound,
Au Pairs,
The Techniques,
Ultravox,
Sällskapet,
Circle Jerks,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Trumans Water,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Mars,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Connie Case,
Fad Gadget,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fluxion,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Crispian St. Peters,
John Cale,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Los Fastidios,
Sound Behaviour,
Patti Smith,
David Axelrod,
Buzzcocks,
Oblivians,
Jandek,
Fela Kuti,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.