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 Ireland and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 808 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 Erykah Badu to the rap 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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moleskins,
Altered Images,
The Slackers,
The Gap Band,
The Walker Brothers,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Angry Samoans,
Maurizio,
Minny Pops,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Toni Rubio,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
F. McDonald,
Girls At Our Best!,
Iggy Pop,
cv313,
Rod Modell,
Arthur Verocai,
Graham Central Station,
T.S.O.L.,
New Order,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Blossom Toes,
Isaac Hayes,
The Mummies,
Joey Negro,
Country Teasers,
Moebius,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sonic Youth,
Todd Terry,
Vladislav Delay,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Rufus Thomas,
Funky Four + One,
Tommy Roe,
Desert Stars,
Reuben Wilson,
Joyce Sims,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Litter,
Jeff Mills,
Fela Kuti,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
David Axelrod,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Man Parrish,
Second Layer,
Television Personalities,
Aloha Tigers,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bauhaus,
Essential Logic,
Electric Prunes,
Laurel Aitken,
Drexciya,
The Residents,
Dark Day,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.