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 Malaysia and from Glasgow.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Joensuu 1685 to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Reagan Youth. All the underground hits.
All Lightning Bolt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Raincoats 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Flock of Seagulls,
Au Pairs,
The Durutti Column,
Warsaw,
Visage,
Maurizio,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Electric Prunes,
The Dead C,
Nico,
Theoretical Girls,
Sandy B,
Joe Smooth,
The Last Poets,
Maleditus Sound,
The Angels of Light,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lower 48,
Amon Düül,
Wally Richardson,
Wire,
Eric Dolphy,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Can,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Roxette,
MDC,
10cc,
Scan 7,
Piero Umiliani,
Panda Bear,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Glambeats Corp.,
Susan Cadogan,
the Soft Cell,
The Doors,
The Fugs,
Amazonics,
Scratch Acid,
Toni Rubio,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Dirtbombs,
Half Japanese,
Darondo,
Smog,
Avey Tare,
Essential Logic,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Litter,
Black Moon,
Intrusion,
Brand Nubian,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Beau Brummels,
a-ha,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Fuzztones,
Jeru the Damaja,
Roy Ayers,
Soft Cell,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.