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 Chile and from Sao Paulo.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Spandau Ballet to the techno 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Todd Terry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James Chance & The Contortions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Technova,
Ornette Coleman,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Minny Pops,
The Mojo Men,
The American Breed,
Derrick Morgan,
John Foxx,
Das Ding,
Can,
Silicon Teens,
Deepchord,
Scratch Acid,
Soft Machine,
Bronski Beat,
Yaz,
Gichy Dan,
The Last Poets,
Stereo Dub,
Ten City,
Alphaville,
Sarah Menescal,
Eric Copeland,
Boredoms,
Connie Case,
Cal Tjader,
Skriet,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Monochrome Set,
Swans,
Masters at Work,
Joensuu 1685,
Marine Girls,
Mission of Burma,
Faraquet,
The Black Dice,
LL Cool J,
Goldenarms,
Pantytec,
Bootsy Collins,
U.S. Maple,
Pylon,
Joe Finger,
Warsaw,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Dave Gahan,
Aloha Tigers,
the Human League,
Donny Hathaway,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Erasure,
Marmalade,
Bob Dylan,
The Golliwogs,
The Blues Magoos,
Sight & Sound,
Todd Rundgren,
Camberwell Now,
Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX.
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.