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 Qatar and from Glasgow.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Techniques to the grunge 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 Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Flock of Seagulls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sixth Finger,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Severed Heads,
Yellowson,
The Mojo Men,
Bluetip,
One Last Wish,
the Human League,
The Doobie Brothers,
Public Image Ltd.,
June Days,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Electric Prunes,
Aloha Tigers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Nick Fraelich,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Bill Wells,
Piero Umiliani,
Gastr Del Sol,
the Soft Cell,
The Zeros,
Jacques Brel,
Shuggie Otis,
T. Rex,
Thompson Twins,
The Buckinghams,
John Lydon,
Buzzcocks,
Lyres,
Patti Smith,
Dawn Penn,
Joe Finger,
James White and The Blacks,
Pantytec,
New Order,
Quantec,
Frankie Knuckles,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Judy Mowatt,
Parry Music,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Barracudas,
Derrick May,
Deadbeat,
Althea and Donna,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lucky Dragons,
Agent Orange,
The Birthday Party,
Matthew Bourne,
KRS-One,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mark Hollis,
Fear,
Mars,
Tom Boy,
Pere Ubu,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.