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 Norway and from Taipei.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Theoretical Girls to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bobby Womack. All the underground hits.
All The Happenings tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Absolute Body Control record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Music Machine,
Pulsallama,
Fluxion,
Barbara Tucker,
This Heat,
Letta Mbulu,
Saccharine Trust,
Susan Cadogan,
The Litter,
a-ha,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Matthew Bourne,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Boredoms,
Faraquet,
The Wake,
Shoche,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Scientists,
Sonic Youth,
Jawbox,
Cal Tjader,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Pretty Things,
The United States of America,
Negative Approach,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sound Behaviour,
Nico,
Unrelated Segments,
Von Mondo,
Roger Hodgson,
Wasted Youth,
Soul Sonic Force,
Wally Richardson,
Lightning Bolt,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cymande,
Lakeside,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Associates,
Bush Tetras,
Anthony Braxton,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ronan,
Japan,
The Vogues,
Radiohead,
The Young Rascals,
Peter & Gordon,
Hashim,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
X-102,
The Electric Prunes,
Little Man,
Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes.
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.