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 Congo and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Little Man to the techno 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 Fear. All the underground hits.
All Jacob Miller tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Hot Snakes,
Jeff Mills,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lightning Bolt,
Funky Four + One,
Goldenarms,
Oblivians,
Aural Exciters,
Sexual Harrassment,
Brothers Johnson,
Cameo,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Sound,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Q65,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
June Days,
Agent Orange,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Metal Thangz,
Glambeats Corp.,
Boogie Down Productions,
Joe Smooth,
Rekid,
Patti Smith,
Flipper,
Yusef Lateef,
Tom Boy,
Delta 5,
The Remains,
Tears for Fears,
Half Japanese,
Malaria!,
Khruangbin,
Rites of Spring,
La Düsseldorf,
Inner City,
John Coltrane,
Laurel Aitken,
Jimmy McGriff,
T. Rex,
Lakeside,
Q and Not U,
Fear,
The Litter,
Spoonie Gee,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Vogues,
Magma,
Interpol,
Ituana,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Moebius,
Lower 48,
The Blues Magoos,
Swell Maps,
L. Decosne,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Freddie Wadling,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal.
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.