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 Croatia and from Winnipeg.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Cabaret Voltaire 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 Q and Not U. All the underground hits.
All Justin Hinds & The Dominoes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sparks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
Mandrill,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Procol Harum,
Peter and Kerry,
Boogie Down Productions,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Velvet Underground,
Minor Threat,
Al Stewart,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Television Personalities,
Simply Red,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Joyce Sims,
Deakin,
The Golliwogs,
The Moleskins,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mr. Review,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Todd Rundgren,
Suburban Knight,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Busters,
Robert Hood,
Khruangbin,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Zapp,
Derrick May,
Marmalade,
Zero Boys,
Joy Division,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Black Moon,
Pylon,
The Litter,
Pierre Henry,
Steve Hackett,
David Bowie,
The Zeros,
Arcadia,
Country Teasers,
Suicide,
The Durutti Column,
Sparks,
Sam Rivers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pet Shop Boys,
MDC,
The Beau Brummels,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Blake Baxter,
Schoolly D,
The Monochrome Set,
Anthony Braxton,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Barry Ungar,
Letta Mbulu,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.