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 Angola and from Philadelphia.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Alphaville to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All Patti Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Connie Case,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Human League,
Terry Callier,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Mummies,
the Human League,
Joey Negro,
Neil Young,
F. McDonald,
Banda Bassotti,
Black Pus,
Arab on Radar,
Fluxion,
Bobby Byrd,
John Lydon,
Popol Vuh,
The Shadows of Knight,
Michelle Simonal,
Davy DMX,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Fuzztones,
the Germs,
Dennis Brown,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nation of Ulysses,
Jeff Lynne,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ohio Players,
Panda Bear,
Sister Nancy,
Altered Images,
Monks,
The Blackbyrds,
Qualms,
Index,
H. Thieme,
the Slits,
Glenn Branca,
Lucky Dragons,
Mo-Dettes,
Juan Atkins,
Johnny Clarke,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Walker Brothers,
Iggy Pop,
David Axelrod,
Camberwell Now,
Bill Wells,
Robert Wyatt,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lyres,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Searchers,
The Gun Club,
The Blues Magoos,
Das Ding,
The Mojo Men,
Cecil Taylor,
D'Angelo,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.