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 Seychelles and from Jakarta.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the organ 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 The Music Machine to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Babytalk. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nirvana record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
The Toasters,
Tropical Tobacco,
Mad Mike,
Skarface,
Sugar Minott,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Sparks,
Suicide,
Quadrant,
Wings,
the Slits,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lower 48,
Lakeside,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Litter,
Au Pairs,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Nirvana,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lucky Dragons,
Mary Jane Girls,
Los Fastidios,
Cluster,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Young Rascals,
Technova,
Robert Görl,
Lyres,
Adolescents,
Faust,
Skriet,
Symarip,
Kenny Larkin,
Pierre Henry,
Pantaleimon,
Ornette Coleman,
the Normal,
Cecil Taylor,
David Bowie,
The Motions,
The Slackers,
Eric Copeland,
Loose Ends,
Lou Reed,
Steve Hackett,
Masters at Work,
Japan,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Aaron Thompson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Byron Stingily,
Soul II Soul,
Amon Düül,
Aloha Tigers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bush Tetras,
Gregory Isaacs,
10cc, 10cc, 10cc, 10cc.
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.