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 Latvia and from Edmonton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Black Sheep to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Radio Birdman. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quadrant record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
Eden Ahbez,
Joy Division,
Urselle,
The Standells,
Letta Mbulu,
Young Marble Giants,
Desert Stars,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ronan,
Bobby Womack,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kaleidoscope,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Beau Brummels,
The Toasters,
Siglo XX,
Camouflage,
the Sonics,
Alice Coltrane,
Pierre Henry,
Basic Channel,
Skriet,
Faust,
B.T. Express,
Icehouse,
JFA,
The Durutti Column,
Kayak,
The Vogues,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Velvet Underground,
Second Layer,
Delta 5,
Funky Four + One,
R.M.O.,
The Human League,
Black Flag,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mandrill,
H. Thieme,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Moby Grape,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Graham Central Station,
Donny Hathaway,
Television Personalities,
Ultravox,
Chrome,
Gang Green,
Bill Wells,
Unrelated Segments,
Aural Exciters,
Ludus,
PIL,
The Electric Prunes,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.