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 Tonga and from New York.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Depeche Mode to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Human League record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiopuhelimet,
Barrington Levy,
Jerry's Kids,
Bang On A Can,
The Happenings,
the Human League,
Suicide,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Infiniti,
Underground Resistance,
Marshall Jefferson,
Shuggie Otis,
Severed Heads,
Sight & Sound,
Jeff Lynne,
Stiv Bators,
Black Sheep,
Ludus,
Sun City Girls,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Bluetip,
Heaven 17,
The Fugs,
Pere Ubu,
Mars,
This Heat,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Darondo,
Marc Almond,
Judy Mowatt,
Hardrive,
Neil Young,
The Last Poets,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Jacques Brel,
Index,
Kurtis Blow,
Swans,
John Cale,
The Fire Engines,
Michelle Simonal,
Quadrant,
Sister Nancy,
Camouflage,
Funkadelic,
Yaz,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Cameo,
Suburban Knight,
The Monochrome Set,
Ice-T,
Don Cherry,
These Immortal Souls,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Victims,
Circle Jerks,
Ponytail,
The Offenders,
The Mojo Men,
Crispy Ambulance,
Los Fastidios,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.