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 Panama and from Seoul.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Blossom Toes to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All Goldenarms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flash Fearless,
Sandy B,
Eve St. Jones,
Blancmange,
The Dave Clark Five,
Babytalk,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Residents,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Fugs,
Minnie Riperton,
PIL,
Main Source,
Theoretical Girls,
The Fall,
Lightning Bolt,
Simply Red,
the Germs,
Kenny Larkin,
Soft Machine,
Jeff Lynne,
Carl Craig,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Country Teasers,
The Leaves,
Minny Pops,
Ken Boothe,
Archie Shepp,
Avey Tare,
Anakelly,
Cymande,
Godley & Creme,
Alton Ellis,
Blossom Toes,
James White and The Blacks,
Roxette,
Audionom,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bill Wells,
the Slits,
The Count Five,
David Axelrod,
Girls At Our Best!,
T.S.O.L.,
Wolf Eyes,
Kas Product,
Bauhaus,
Letta Mbulu,
Royal Trux,
The Golliwogs,
Clear Light,
The Happenings,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Detroit Cobras,
Soft Cell,
Black Pus,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Moby Grape,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.