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 Cambodia and from Manchester.
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 Shanghai and Toronto.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Agitation Free to the rap 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 Neu!. All the underground hits.
All Lungfish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Can,
Mantronix,
Marvin Gaye,
Cymande,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Motions,
Jandek,
The Fortunes,
The Misunderstood,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Dead C,
Roxy Music,
The J.B.'s,
Alton Ellis,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Josef K,
Howard Jones,
Masters at Work,
Gastr Del Sol,
Con Funk Shun,
The Human League,
Minutemen,
Ornette Coleman,
Chris Corsano,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Todd Rundgren,
Funky Four + One,
T. Rex,
Gerry Rafferty,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eli Mardock,
The Busters,
Black Flag,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Nirvana,
The Blues Magoos,
Yellowson,
The Sonics,
U.S. Maple,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
John Foxx,
Dead Boys,
a-ha,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Jacques Brel,
Nils Olav,
Soulsonic Force,
Intrusion,
Prince Buster,
Tears for Fears,
Soul II Soul,
the Soft Cell,
Matthew Bourne,
Byron Stingily,
Kurtis Blow,
David McCallum,
John Lydon,
Zero Boys,
Parry Music,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Rakim,
The Evens, The Evens, The Evens, The Evens.
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.