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 Belize 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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 808 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 Crooked Eye to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Duran Duran. All the underground hits.
All Neu! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stiv Bators record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Goldenarms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marshall Jefferson,
The Cramps,
Juan Atkins,
Interpol,
Chrome,
Joyce Sims,
Negative Approach,
Ronnie Foster,
Magma,
John Lydon,
June Days,
The Fire Engines,
Yaz,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
MDC,
Stetsasonic,
Loose Ends,
Patti Smith,
Peter & Gordon,
Laurel Aitken,
Isaac Hayes,
Crash Course in Science,
Byron Stingily,
The Monochrome Set,
Franke,
The Human League,
The Flesh Eaters,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
the Slits,
Tommy Roe,
Qualms,
Talk Talk,
Niagra,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Marcia Griffiths,
Brand Nubian,
Amon Düül,
Hasil Adkins,
Massinfluence,
Hardrive,
Pole,
Bill Near,
Shuggie Otis,
David McCallum,
Sister Nancy,
The Residents,
T. Rex,
Swans,
Yellowson,
Alphaville,
Babytalk,
OOIOO,
Anthony Braxton,
ABC,
Skaos,
Crispian St. Peters,
Electric Prunes,
New Age Steppers,
Scrapy,
World's Most,
Jeff Lynne,
Ludus,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.