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 Nauru 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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the theremin 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 Kayak to the crunk 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 The Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Joey Negro tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young & Crazy Horse record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
Television Personalities,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Red Krayola,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Jeru the Damaja,
Radiopuhelimet,
Marine Girls,
Lalann,
Jeff Lynne,
Fela Kuti,
the Swans,
Black Sheep,
Organ,
The Velvet Underground,
Aaron Thompson,
The Dirtbombs,
Aural Exciters,
Peter & Gordon,
Cecil Taylor,
David Bowie,
Soul II Soul,
Erasure,
Alton Ellis,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Cluster,
Letta Mbulu,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Pharoah Sanders,
Byron Stingily,
Monks,
Barrington Levy,
Visage,
The Pop Group,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cameo,
Public Enemy,
The Walker Brothers,
Minutemen,
Davy DMX,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Slits,
Judy Mowatt,
The Trojans,
Basic Channel,
Gang Gang Dance,
Inner City,
Subhumans,
Jacob Miller,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kayak,
Brand Nubian,
Bill Wells,
Ken Boothe,
Nas,
The Last Poets,
Alison Limerick,
The Selecter,
Smog,
The New Christs,
Darondo,
Deadbeat,
New Order, New Order, New Order, New Order.
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.