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 Djibouti and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Soft Cell to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swell Maps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aural Exciters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Rapeman,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ludus,
The Motions,
Erasure,
The Toasters,
DJ Style,
Brick,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Judy Mowatt,
Agitation Free,
Electric Prunes,
Smog,
Pet Shop Boys,
Scientists,
Sonic Youth,
Crispian St. Peters,
Liliput,
Kenny Larkin,
Interpol,
The Invisible,
The Modern Lovers,
New Age Steppers,
Frankie Knuckles,
Johnny Clarke,
Soulsonic Force,
Bob Dylan,
The Associates,
Boz Scaggs,
Barry Ungar,
Depeche Mode,
Underground Resistance,
Animal Collective,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Robert Hood,
Deakin,
Lou Christie,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Al Stewart,
Joy Division,
Ohio Players,
Mission of Burma,
Sparks,
Zero Boys,
The Shadows of Knight,
Negative Approach,
ABBA,
Brand Nubian,
Hot Snakes,
Howard Jones,
the Normal,
ABC,
Roxette,
La Düsseldorf,
FM Einheit,
The Standells,
Prince Buster,
Cluster,
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.