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 Slovenia and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 10cc to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Names. All the underground hits.
All Quando Quango tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Görl record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
The Fortunes,
Public Image Ltd.,
In Retrospect,
Unrelated Segments,
Zapp,
Visage,
Donny Hathaway,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Young Rascals,
Scott Walker,
The Dave Clark Five,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Skaos,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The United States of America,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Arthur Verocai,
Outsiders,
The Moody Blues,
Flamin' Groovies,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Golliwogs,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Derrick May,
Crispy Ambulance,
Anakelly,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Jandek,
Arcadia,
the Soft Cell,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Banda Bassotti,
Cymande,
Lightning Bolt,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Mr. Review,
Faraquet,
The Gun Club,
Wally Richardson,
Erasure,
Eli Mardock,
Hashim,
The Trojans,
Robert Wyatt,
Y Pants,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
kango's stein massive,
Connie Case,
The Martian,
Cabaret Voltaire,
UT,
The Human League,
Dual Sessions,
John Lydon,
David McCallum,
Hoover,
Leonard Cohen,
Sexual Harrassment,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scratch Acid,
The Five Americans,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.