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 Lebanon and from New York.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Anakelly to the crunk 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 Mo-Dettes. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Graham Central Station 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slick Rick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Gang Dance,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Count Five,
Slave,
Grandmaster Flash,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Minny Pops,
The Neon Judgement,
Donald Byrd,
Trumans Water,
EPMD,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tommy Roe,
Sun Ra,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Lee Hazlewood,
Das Ding,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Evens,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Lungfish,
Ponytail,
The Dirtbombs,
The Alarm Clocks,
Monolake,
Pharoah Sanders,
Funkadelic,
The Techniques,
Thompson Twins,
Don Cherry,
Jacques Brel,
Vladislav Delay,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pylon,
Faust,
Barry Ungar,
Soul Sonic Force,
Soul II Soul,
Alison Limerick,
The Grass Roots,
Magma,
The Martian,
Joe Smooth,
Monks,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The United States of America,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bang On A Can,
Simply Red,
Stetsasonic,
Lower 48,
Wolf Eyes,
Mission of Burma,
Black Pus,
Donny Hathaway,
Radiohead,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tears for Fears,
The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds.
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.