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 Bangladesh and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 Portland and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare 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 Wasted Youth to the crunk 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 The Five Americans. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Whodini record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
Anthony Braxton,
Kurtis Blow,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Real Kids,
Talk Talk,
Reagan Youth,
Bill Wells,
Amon Düül II,
Ohio Players,
Mr. Review,
the Normal,
Television,
Peter and Kerry,
Arthur Verocai,
Brand Nubian,
The Angels of Light,
Desert Stars,
Vainqueur,
Altered Images,
Crime,
Warsaw,
Johnny Clarke,
The Electric Prunes,
Zero Boys,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Ice-T,
ABBA,
Rod Modell,
The Shadows of Knight,
Index,
Charles Mingus,
Sex Pistols,
These Immortal Souls,
Donny Hathaway,
Subhumans,
48th St. Collective,
Electric Prunes,
Eurythmics,
Smog,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Slackers,
U.S. Maple,
Blake Baxter,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Barry Ungar,
Ronan,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Joe Finger,
Negative Approach,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Model 500,
The Stooges,
Guru Guru,
The Star Department,
The Velvet Underground,
Siglo XX,
Pagans,
Maleditus Sound,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.