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 Hungary and from Edmonton.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Wasted Youth to the jazz 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 Blancmange. All the underground hits.
All David Bowie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerri Chandler 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lightning Bolt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
Minnie Riperton,
Aural Exciters,
The Cure,
The Vogues,
Colin Newman,
The Moody Blues,
The Detroit Cobras,
Blossom Toes,
Curtis Mayfield,
Rakim,
Massinfluence,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Scrapy,
The Trojans,
Scott Walker,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
June Days,
Heaven 17,
Kool Moe Dee,
Minor Threat,
Dead Boys,
Crispy Ambulance,
Maurizio,
DJ Style,
The Star Department,
The Saints,
The Invisible,
D'Angelo,
Rosa Yemen,
Reagan Youth,
Donny Hathaway,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Monks,
Jacob Miller,
Cymande,
Mission of Burma,
Harmonia,
Graham Central Station,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Wally Richardson,
Al Stewart,
FM Einheit,
Jeff Lynne,
Slick Rick,
Jacques Brel,
Minutemen,
T. Rex,
Lou Reed,
Girls At Our Best!,
Hoover,
Jerry's Kids,
Letta Mbulu,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Y Pants,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Faraquet,
JFA,
The Neon Judgement,
Harpers Bizarre,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Con Funk Shun,
Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry.
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.