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 Netherlands and from Mumbai.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Chris & Cosey to the disco 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 The Wake. All the underground hits.
All In Retrospect tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-Ray Spex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronan,
Cluster,
Althea and Donna,
Suicide,
Albert Ayler,
8 Eyed Spy,
Gong,
Ice-T,
Warren Ellis,
The Sisters of Mercy,
New York Dolls,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Offenders,
The United States of America,
Anthony Braxton,
Pussy Galore,
Eric B and Rakim,
Curtis Mayfield,
PIL,
The Monks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Patti Smith,
The Count Five,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Roy Ayers,
Delon & Dalcan,
Lakeside,
Excepter,
Moebius,
Todd Terry,
Marine Girls,
The Dirtbombs,
Qualms,
Sun Ra,
The Leaves,
Eddi Front,
Big Daddy Kane,
Jerry's Kids,
Japan,
Gang Starr,
Cecil Taylor,
Los Fastidios,
Angry Samoans,
Silicon Teens,
Neu!,
Graham Central Station,
Dead Boys,
Morten Harket,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Heaven 17,
the Fania All-Stars,
Derrick Morgan,
Colin Newman,
Slave,
Anakelly,
Swell Maps,
Tubeway Army,
Saccharine Trust,
Joey Negro,
Malaria!,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.