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 Vietnam and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 clarinet 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 Pylon to the grunge 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 The Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Wake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Idris Muhammad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Alison Limerick,
Little Man,
Excepter,
The Trojans,
Swell Maps,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Malaria!,
Suicide,
Isaac Hayes,
Siglo XX,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Connie Case,
U.S. Maple,
Derrick May,
Underground Resistance,
Eddi Front,
the Human League,
The Index,
Joe Smooth,
Zero Boys,
DJ Sneak,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Cheater Slicks,
the Slits,
Susan Cadogan,
Byron Stingily,
Gil Scott Heron,
Quadrant,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Graham Central Station,
Josef K,
Harmonia,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sugar Minott,
The Doobie Brothers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Sun Ra,
Lower 48,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Echospace,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Theoretical Girls,
Altered Images,
Scratch Acid,
Whodini,
The Mummies,
Man Eating Sloth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Funky Four + One,
Thee Headcoats,
Desert Stars,
Todd Terry,
Harpers Bizarre,
Maurizio,
Marmalade,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Trumans Water,
Buzzcocks,
Cluster,
Hot Snakes,
B.T. Express,
Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force.
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.