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 Togo and from Mexico City.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 guitar 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 Brass Construction to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Warren Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Agitation Free tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Selector Dub Narcotic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a This Heat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
Unwound,
Shoche,
Grey Daturas,
kango's stein massive,
Prince Buster,
Public Enemy,
Gang Gang Dance,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Alton Ellis,
Excepter,
Eric Dolphy,
Y Pants,
FM Einheit,
Joy Division,
Jeff Mills,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Television,
Joe Finger,
the Sonics,
B.T. Express,
Panda Bear,
The Seeds,
Saccharine Trust,
The Young Rascals,
Reagan Youth,
Connie Case,
Aloha Tigers,
China Crisis,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Leonard Cohen,
Don Cherry,
Erykah Badu,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Fortunes,
The Techniques,
Crispy Ambulance,
Monolake,
Sarah Menescal,
Lee Hazlewood,
Arab on Radar,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ronnie Foster,
The Doobie Brothers,
Ash Ra Tempel,
World's Most,
MDC,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Shuggie Otis,
Dark Day,
Joyce Sims,
Flamin' Groovies,
Easy Going,
Bluetip,
Electric Prunes,
Minnie Riperton,
Circle Jerks,
The American Breed,
Vainqueur,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.