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 Tajikistan and from Hong Kong.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Manila.
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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Jimmy McGriff to the rock 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 Massinfluence. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerri Chandler,
Alison Limerick,
Flipper,
Motorama,
The Happenings,
Skriet,
Todd Terry,
Funky Four + One,
The Alarm Clocks,
Whodini,
Magazine,
Thee Headcoats,
Bill Near,
Siglo XX,
Silicon Teens,
Joensuu 1685,
Hashim,
Mark Hollis,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Negative Approach,
Surgeon,
The Angels of Light,
Wolf Eyes,
The Buckinghams,
Idris Muhammad,
The Sound,
Sam Rivers,
Subhumans,
PIL,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Andrew Hill,
The Seeds,
Nils Olav,
Gang Starr,
Reuben Wilson,
Funkadelic,
Dennis Brown,
Lindisfarne,
Donny Hathaway,
Tomorrow,
The Dave Clark Five,
Symarip,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
These Immortal Souls,
A Certain Ratio,
Neil Young,
Sugar Minott,
R.M.O.,
The Neon Judgement,
Avey Tare,
Nas,
Los Fastidios,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Eve St. Jones,
Gabor Szabo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
X-102,
Average White Band,
Roxette,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.