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 Angola and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Kurtis Blow to the rock 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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All UT tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barclay James Harvest record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kurtis Blow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hashim,
Erasure,
Glambeats Corp.,
Essential Logic,
Intrusion,
Malaria!,
The Motions,
Motorama,
Donny Hathaway,
Grauzone,
Sixth Finger,
Cal Tjader,
Rufus Thomas,
Jandek,
PIL,
A Certain Ratio,
Quantec,
Jeru the Damaja,
Skaos,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Connie Case,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Raincoats,
Sonny Sharrock,
Deadbeat,
Lalann,
Lyres,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
OOIOO,
Todd Terry,
Funkadelic,
Rekid,
Alice Coltrane,
Marmalade,
Sam Rivers,
Boredoms,
The Monks,
Dual Sessions,
The Slits,
Gastr Del Sol,
Skarface,
Jerry's Kids,
Electric Light Orchestra,
La Düsseldorf,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skriet,
the Swans,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Busters,
David McCallum,
The Fire Engines,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Godley & Creme,
Don Cherry,
The Fuzztones,
Al Stewart,
Inner City,
Altered Images,
Television,
Desert Stars,
Dave Gahan,
Theoretical Girls,
Section 25, Section 25, Section 25, Section 25.
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.