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 Morocco and from Mexico City.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Modern Lovers to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Knickerbockers. All the underground hits.
All Joey Negro tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Trumans Water record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter and Kerry,
China Crisis,
Danielle Patucci,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Tremeloes,
Circle Jerks,
Arab on Radar,
The Music Machine,
Livin' Joy,
MDC,
Pylon,
Monks,
Magazine,
Pulsallama,
Idris Muhammad,
Sister Nancy,
Deepchord,
Amon Düül II,
Tomorrow,
Tommy Roe,
The Fall,
Lou Christie,
The Fugs,
The Gap Band,
Rotary Connection,
DJ Sneak,
Delta 5,
Eurythmics,
The Red Krayola,
Outsiders,
Deadbeat,
Charles Mingus,
Mary Jane Girls,
AZ,
Arthur Verocai,
The Neon Judgement,
Stockholm Monsters,
Fad Gadget,
Crooked Eye,
Joensuu 1685,
Michelle Simonal,
Aloha Tigers,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Roxy Music,
Bill Near,
Dave Gahan,
the Normal,
Mark Hollis,
The Dave Clark Five,
Judy Mowatt,
Gang Starr,
The Leaves,
Ultravox,
Peter & Gordon,
Jandek,
Q and Not U,
Pantaleimon,
Traffic Nightmare,
Jawbox,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Mummies,
June Days, June Days, June Days, June Days.
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.