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 Turkmenistan and from Stockholm.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 AZ to the funk 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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-101 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Panda Bear,
Bill Near,
Amazonics,
The Tremeloes,
Royal Trux,
Los Fastidios,
Laurel Aitken,
Sister Nancy,
Fad Gadget,
Alison Limerick,
Sarah Menescal,
Eden Ahbez,
Pharoah Sanders,
Agitation Free,
Anthony Braxton,
Zapp,
Aaron Thompson,
Second Layer,
Gong,
DNA,
Interpol,
Black Sheep,
Pussy Galore,
Dead Boys,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Kevin Saunderson,
Flipper,
Zero Boys,
Quando Quango,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Rakim,
Soft Machine,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sight & Sound,
Byron Stingily,
Depeche Mode,
David Bowie,
John Cale,
David Axelrod,
Aural Exciters,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Reuben Wilson,
Khruangbin,
Crispian St. Peters,
Clear Light,
Robert Görl,
Pulsallama,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Pet Shop Boys,
Youth Brigade,
Underground Resistance,
Danielle Patucci,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Black Pus,
Thompson Twins,
Echospace,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.