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 Egypt and from Shanghai.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 New Age Steppers to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Delta 5. All the underground hits.
All Outsiders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funky Four + One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
The Skatalites,
The Techniques,
Marc Almond,
Bootsy Collins,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mission of Burma,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
PIL,
Sexual Harrassment,
Aaron Thompson,
Roy Ayers,
Lightning Bolt,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Crime,
Frankie Knuckles,
Drexciya,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Zeros,
John Foxx,
Kevin Saunderson,
Heaven 17,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wally Richardson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Khruangbin,
Duran Duran,
Joy Division,
The Monochrome Set,
Malaria!,
Howard Jones,
48th St. Collective,
Can,
Andrew Hill,
Josef K,
Hashim,
Qualms,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Lalo Schifrin,
Moebius,
Sugar Minott,
Boz Scaggs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sound Behaviour,
The Invisible,
The Cure,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
June Days,
Trumans Water,
Goldenarms,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Index,
Lungfish,
Kool Moe Dee,
Nas,
Funkadelic,
Don Cherry,
K-Klass,
The Blues Magoos,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.