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 El Salvador and from Mexico City.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Al Stewart to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Black Bananas,
Hasil Adkins,
Marine Girls,
Soft Cell,
Lyres,
Funky Four + One,
Essential Logic,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Delon & Dalcan,
Model 500,
The Techniques,
Goldenarms,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Kool Moe Dee,
Jeff Mills,
Aloha Tigers,
Barry Ungar,
8 Eyed Spy,
Bush Tetras,
Warren Ellis,
Harmonia,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Searchers,
The Gladiators,
The Monochrome Set,
E-Dancer,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Little Man,
Jerry's Kids,
Japan,
Depeche Mode,
The Human League,
Dorothy Ashby,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Five Americans,
Bluetip,
Joensuu 1685,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Radiopuhelimet,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Circle Jerks,
B.T. Express,
Nirvana,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Spoonie Gee,
Girls At Our Best!,
Connie Case,
the Germs,
The Evens,
Lou Reed,
DNA,
Hoover,
Kevin Saunderson,
Slave,
Zapp,
10cc,
Bang On A Can,
Barbara Tucker,
Grauzone,
T. Rex,
the Human League, the Human League, the Human League, the Human League.
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.