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 East Timor and from Manchester.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lyon.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Eve St. Jones to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Black Sheep. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Sheep record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Severed Heads,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Spandau Ballet,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Techniques,
Rosa Yemen,
The Misunderstood,
Barry Ungar,
Scratch Acid,
Aaron Thompson,
X-102,
Robert Hood,
Das Ding,
Moss Icon,
Oneida,
Gastr Del Sol,
Gichy Dan,
The Pop Group,
Suicide,
Inner City,
the Bar-Kays,
the Normal,
Donny Hathaway,
Kerrie Biddell,
Funkadelic,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Aloha Tigers,
Gang Starr,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Popol Vuh,
Marine Girls,
Sonic Youth,
Danielle Patucci,
Basic Channel,
David Bowie,
Lindisfarne,
Flash Fearless,
Susan Cadogan,
Outsiders,
Bad Manners,
Unwound,
The American Breed,
Bobby Womack,
Absolute Body Control,
The Index,
cv313,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Wasted Youth,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
This Heat,
Black Sheep,
Livin' Joy,
Tim Buckley,
Darondo,
Scan 7,
Interpol,
The Fall,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.