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 Ethiopia and from Milan.
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 Houston and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Swans to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Barbara Tucker. All the underground hits.
All Susan Cadogan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mojo Men record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Leaves,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Soft Cell,
Soulsonic Force,
Wire,
Delta 5,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Eric Copeland,
Pole,
The Vogues,
Tubeway Army,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Bootsy Collins,
Sam Rivers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Barracudas,
Carl Craig,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Beau Brummels,
Robert Görl,
Chris & Cosey,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Oblivians,
Moebius,
Bob Dylan,
Lalo Schifrin,
Pylon,
Bad Manners,
a-ha,
Essential Logic,
X-Ray Spex,
Circle Jerks,
Connie Case,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sex Pistols,
John Coltrane,
The Music Machine,
The Sound,
John Cale,
Blake Baxter,
Heaven 17,
Sexual Harrassment,
Roxette,
Nirvana,
Pagans,
Wally Richardson,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Eden Ahbez,
Howard Jones,
Crime,
Swell Maps,
the Normal,
The Trojans,
Vainqueur,
Hoover,
Rod Modell,
Scan 7,
Section 25,
Brass Construction,
Harpers Bizarre,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.