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 El Salvador and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in 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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 snare 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 John Foxx 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 The Human League. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiopuhelimet,
The Fugs,
China Crisis,
Neu!,
Slick Rick,
The Selecter,
Ronnie Foster,
Cluster,
Eden Ahbez,
Gang Green,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Minutemen,
Funky Four + One,
Erasure,
The Busters,
Ultravox,
Dual Sessions,
Whodini,
Supertramp,
Bronski Beat,
Second Layer,
The Leaves,
Groovy Waters,
Aswad,
Tears for Fears,
FM Einheit,
Agitation Free,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Radiohead,
Bauhaus,
Hashim,
Deakin,
Eurythmics,
Blancmange,
Robert Wyatt,
The Motions,
Jeff Lynne,
Das Ding,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Fad Gadget,
Nik Kershaw,
Amon Düül,
The Mojo Men,
AZ,
Flash Fearless,
Fat Boys,
Sound Behaviour,
The Techniques,
Prince Buster,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Schoolly D,
Pagans,
Pharoah Sanders,
Parry Music,
K-Klass,
Ralphi Rosario,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Fatback Band,
Stereo Dub,
Agent Orange,
Adolescents,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.