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 Sri Lanka and from Madrid.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 guitar 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 Lucky Dragons to the grunge 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 The Leaves. All the underground hits.
All Art Ensemble Of Chicago tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every B.T. Express record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bauhaus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Erykah Badu,
Simply Red,
MC5,
the Bar-Kays,
Goldenarms,
JFA,
Youth Brigade,
Sonny Sharrock,
the Fania All-Stars,
the Human League,
The Monks,
Excepter,
Donald Byrd,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Organ,
Maleditus Sound,
Stiv Bators,
Thompson Twins,
John Cale,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Yazoo,
Deadbeat,
Mr. Review,
The Knickerbockers,
Unrelated Segments,
Ice-T,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Kinks,
Monks,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
This Heat,
Visage,
The Toasters,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bobby Womack,
Colin Newman,
John Holt,
ABC,
Anakelly,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Buzzcocks,
David Bowie,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Main Source,
Nico,
Howard Jones,
Al Stewart,
Minor Threat,
Neil Young,
Dead Boys,
Roy Ayers,
Dennis Brown,
Niagra,
LL Cool J,
Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru.
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.