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 Guinea-Bissau and from Bologna.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Bremen.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Kurtis Blow to the disco 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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All Black Sheep tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cluster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Joensuu 1685,
Ronan,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
CMW,
T. Rex,
the Association,
The Dirtbombs,
Subhumans,
Bluetip,
Isaac Hayes,
Sun Ra,
Marvin Gaye,
The Golliwogs,
Johnny Osbourne,
Japan,
Suicide,
Tres Demented,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ronnie Foster,
Shoche,
Blossom Toes,
Andrew Hill,
Jandek,
Terry Callier,
Frankie Knuckles,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Rites of Spring,
Anakelly,
Scion,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Carl Craig,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Electric Prunes,
Unwound,
Hasil Adkins,
Delta 5,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gabor Szabo,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
X-101,
Moby Grape,
Connie Case,
the Germs,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Lucky Dragons,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Deadbeat,
Altered Images,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Cymande,
Unrelated Segments,
LL Cool J,
China Crisis,
New York Dolls,
Stereo Dub,
Vainqueur,
the Human League, the Human League, the Human League, the Human League.
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.