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 Philippines and from Winnipeg.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All The Gladiators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABBA 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Be Bop Deluxe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Mr. Review,
The Searchers,
Jawbox,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sarah Menescal,
Dorothy Ashby,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ossler,
Hoover,
China Crisis,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Minutemen,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Funkadelic,
Johnny Osbourne,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Blake Baxter,
Arthur Verocai,
The Trojans,
Wally Richardson,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Zapp,
Popol Vuh,
Eli Mardock,
The Stooges,
Livin' Joy,
Quantec,
Tres Demented,
Rakim,
Soft Machine,
The Misunderstood,
JFA,
F. McDonald,
Heaven 17,
Yaz,
Piero Umiliani,
Morten Harket,
Japan,
Lyres,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Excepter,
Basic Channel,
Bobby Womack,
Mandrill,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Theoretical Girls,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Moby Grape,
Fat Boys,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Blackbyrds,
Can,
Qualms,
Jandek,
Crooked Eye,
Sight & Sound,
The Cure,
Iggy Pop,
Ralphi Rosario,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Soulsonic Force,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.