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 Ethiopia and from Copenhagen.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the 808 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 Cluster to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All Richard Hell and the Voidoids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Soft Cell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 48th St. Collective record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantaleimon,
T.S.O.L.,
The Zeros,
Pylon,
Model 500,
The Index,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ultra Naté,
U.S. Maple,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Techniques,
Connie Case,
The Young Rascals,
Hasil Adkins,
Scientists,
Jandek,
The Victims,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
a-ha,
Delon & Dalcan,
Judy Mowatt,
New Age Steppers,
10cc,
Swans,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Alarm Clocks,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kevin Saunderson,
Arcadia,
Bizarre Inc.,
Erykah Badu,
Anthony Braxton,
Kaleidoscope,
The Monks,
The Slackers,
Susan Cadogan,
Todd Rundgren,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Funkadelic,
Spoonie Gee,
The Mummies,
The Slits,
Oblivians,
Black Flag,
The Star Department,
Howard Jones,
Curtis Mayfield,
Letta Mbulu,
Camouflage,
Joe Smooth,
Alphaville,
Shuggie Otis,
Yusef Lateef,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wolf Eyes,
Carl Craig,
Ten City,
John Holt,
Eric Copeland,
Gang Starr,
Ituana,
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.