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 Sierra Leone and from Jakarta.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Star Department to the dance 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 Accadde A. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every CMW 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a This Heat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Young Marble Giants,
OOIOO,
Aswad,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Public Enemy,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Steve Hackett,
Can,
Deadbeat,
The Black Dice,
Arthur Verocai,
Half Japanese,
Silicon Teens,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Golliwogs,
Niagra,
Throbbing Gristle,
Matthew Halsall,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Robert Wyatt,
Roxy Music,
Delon & Dalcan,
Boredoms,
Bill Wells,
Johnny Clarke,
the Germs,
Boz Scaggs,
The Toasters,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Searchers,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Monks,
The Invisible,
a-ha,
Skriet,
PIL,
Malaria!,
Surgeon,
Electric Prunes,
The Move,
Wally Richardson,
Barry Ungar,
The Doors,
Jacques Brel,
Accadde A,
Gang Green,
Terrestrial Tones,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Black Pus,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Alarm Clocks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Oneida,
Eli Mardock,
Clear Light,
The Raincoats,
Funky Four + One,
A Flock of Seagulls,
X-Ray Spex,
ABC,
DNA,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.