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 San Marino and from Copenhagen.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin 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 Rhythm & Sound to the punk 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 Amazonics. All the underground hits.
All The Shadows of Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-101,
Sonic Youth,
Joy Division,
Gang Gang Dance,
Agent Orange,
Royal Trux,
Arcadia,
Gong,
The Smoke,
The Searchers,
Marcia Griffiths,
Masters at Work,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
the Human League,
Ken Boothe,
The Victims,
Eric Copeland,
Harry Pussy,
Arab on Radar,
Cybotron,
Aural Exciters,
Moby Grape,
Country Teasers,
The Gories,
Black Bananas,
Dual Sessions,
The Golliwogs,
Babytalk,
Glambeats Corp.,
Easy Going,
Smog,
Yaz,
Aswad,
Severed Heads,
F. McDonald,
New Age Steppers,
Robert Hood,
Ronan,
Deadbeat,
Nico,
Rekid,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Ossler,
Joe Finger,
Eden Ahbez,
Popol Vuh,
The United States of America,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Steve Hackett,
The Names,
The Toasters,
Kerrie Biddell,
Wings,
Leonard Cohen,
Cluster,
Q65,
The Gun Club,
Deepchord,
Index,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Slits,
Kayak,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.