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 Sri Lanka and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ 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 Surgeon to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Junior Murvin. All the underground hits.
All Little Man tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Susan Cadogan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Hill,
Joe Smooth,
EPMD,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Music Machine,
Fatback Band,
Swans,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Adolescents,
Neu!,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
John Foxx,
David McCallum,
Prince Buster,
The Stooges,
Minnie Riperton,
Siglo XX,
Funky Four + One,
Stereo Dub,
Scientists,
Kaleidoscope,
The Mojo Men,
Ten City,
Sparks,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Panda Bear,
Interpol,
Simply Red,
Boogie Down Productions,
John Coltrane,
Tom Boy,
Soft Cell,
The Real Kids,
The Moody Blues,
Rakim,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lungfish,
Bang On A Can,
Massinfluence,
the Bar-Kays,
Scratch Acid,
CMW,
Sam Rivers,
Marmalade,
Kurtis Blow,
Visage,
Michelle Simonal,
Mad Mike,
John Lydon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Fad Gadget,
The Gap Band,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Suicide,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Birthday Party,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.