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 Colombia and from Madrid.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Todd Terry to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Animal Collective. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mighty Diamonds 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?
Sister Nancy,
Dorothy Ashby,
Intrusion,
Animal Collective,
Altered Images,
Model 500,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Avey Tare,
Bush Tetras,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fugazi,
The Cure,
Cluster,
Urselle,
Schoolly D,
Maurizio,
the Association,
Porter Ricks,
Gong,
Chris & Cosey,
The Fortunes,
Gang of Four,
R.M.O.,
Nils Olav,
Unrelated Segments,
Gang Green,
Alton Ellis,
Harmonia,
Rekid,
Vainqueur,
Rod Modell,
The Walker Brothers,
Roxy Music,
Pussy Galore,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Junior Murvin,
Suburban Knight,
Ice-T,
Bobby Byrd,
Kerrie Biddell,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Brick,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Skarface,
The Toasters,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sex Pistols,
The Misunderstood,
Gang Starr,
Black Bananas,
Davy DMX,
DJ Style,
Fela Kuti,
Terry Callier,
Cameo,
Scott Walker,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Ken Boothe,
David Bowie,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.