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 Bahamas and from Lyon.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Rosa Yemen to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lee Hazlewood. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Lynne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moby Grape record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spoonie Gee,
Junior Murvin,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Dark Day,
a-ha,
The Durutti Column,
Charles Mingus,
Ash Ra Tempel,
the Soft Cell,
The Black Dice,
The Fire Engines,
A Certain Ratio,
Japan,
Buzzcocks,
Grauzone,
Erasure,
The Busters,
Desert Stars,
Fad Gadget,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Barry Ungar,
Magma,
Infiniti,
Massinfluence,
Monolake,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Index,
Ornette Coleman,
Throbbing Gristle,
Rekid,
Aural Exciters,
The Selecter,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Mandrill,
Amon Düül II,
The Red Krayola,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Godley & Creme,
Soft Cell,
The Buckinghams,
Skriet,
Robert Hood,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Wire,
The American Breed,
Minutemen,
Tommy Roe,
Swans,
Crooked Eye,
Warsaw,
Barbara Tucker,
Tom Boy,
The Smoke,
Gang Starr,
10cc,
Lower 48,
FM Einheit,
Blossom Toes,
Arthur Verocai,
Avey Tare,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.