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 Sierra Leone and from Beijing.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 The Young Rascals to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All U.S. Maple tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aural Exciters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s 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 Nirvana record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Royal Trux,
Pere Ubu,
Boredoms,
Cal Tjader,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Minnie Riperton,
The Count Five,
Lee Hazlewood,
Dark Day,
Anakelly,
Organ,
UT,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Black Bananas,
The Mummies,
Warsaw,
Warren Ellis,
Mark Hollis,
The Alarm Clocks,
Theoretical Girls,
T.S.O.L.,
Jawbox,
Piero Umiliani,
X-Ray Spex,
The Victims,
The Doobie Brothers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Kurtis Blow,
Motorama,
Negative Approach,
Alton Ellis,
the Slits,
The Residents,
Yazoo,
Mandrill,
Buzzcocks,
Funky Four + One,
Jacques Brel,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Black Dice,
Talk Talk,
Ultra Naté,
U.S. Maple,
Goldenarms,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Golliwogs,
Ludus,
Loose Ends,
The Fugs,
Stockholm Monsters,
Soul Sonic Force,
Black Flag,
Tubeway Army,
The Slackers,
Gang Green,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Joe Smooth,
Pussy Galore,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rites of Spring,
Jandek,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.