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 Azerbaijan and from Portland.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Litter to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Bourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roxette 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy Collins,
Tom Boy,
Alphaville,
Donald Byrd,
Joy Division,
Fat Boys,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Five Americans,
Pantytec,
Neil Young,
The Beau Brummels,
Lucky Dragons,
Subhumans,
Pierre Henry,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
cv313,
Soulsonic Force,
Steve Hackett,
Popol Vuh,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Velvet Underground,
Colin Newman,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lou Reed,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Fall,
Radio Birdman,
Siglo XX,
Soul II Soul,
Bobby Sherman,
Robert Wyatt,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Don Cherry,
Vladislav Delay,
Blancmange,
T. Rex,
Sex Pistols,
Sun City Girls,
MDC,
Byron Stingily,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Dennis Brown,
Yellowson,
Mission of Burma,
Todd Terry,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Kinks,
Mad Mike,
World's Most,
Gerry Rafferty,
Marshall Jefferson,
Drive Like Jehu,
Negative Approach,
Joyce Sims,
Buzzcocks,
Goldenarms,
One Last Wish,
The Moody Blues,
Kurtis Blow,
The Fugs,
Half Japanese,
Tim Buckley,
John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx.
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.