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 Vanuatu 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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 güiro 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 The Young Rascals to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Half Japanese. All the underground hits.
All Sound Behaviour tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every CMW record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
Kerri Chandler,
The Star Department,
The J.B.'s,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Fortunes,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Brass Construction,
Davy DMX,
The Residents,
The Doors,
ABC,
Mark Hollis,
Desert Stars,
Electric Prunes,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Jacques Brel,
Procol Harum,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bobby Sherman,
Fad Gadget,
Michelle Simonal,
Cybotron,
The Associates,
The Last Poets,
The Music Machine,
Andrew Hill,
Moss Icon,
Grey Daturas,
Danielle Patucci,
Pet Shop Boys,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Grandmaster Flash,
Barry Ungar,
The Walker Brothers,
B.T. Express,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ludus,
Agent Orange,
Fugazi,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Mad Mike,
Severed Heads,
E-Dancer,
The Gun Club,
Skarface,
Rufus Thomas,
U.S. Maple,
The Mummies,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Black Sheep,
Technova,
Curtis Mayfield,
Chrome,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Motions,
Ronan,
Brick,
Marshall Jefferson,
Janne Schatter,
Alphaville,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.