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 Philippines and from Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Beijing.
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 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 Smoke to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Malaria! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Dorothy Ashby,
Trumans Water,
Dark Day,
Sandy B,
Excepter,
Heaven 17,
Tomorrow,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
One Last Wish,
Barclay James Harvest,
Can,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Moebius,
The Count Five,
Rakim,
DJ Style,
The Motions,
Ituana,
Jandek,
Faust,
Harry Pussy,
Camberwell Now,
Fugazi,
Lou Christie,
June of 44,
Minny Pops,
CMW,
Michelle Simonal,
Schoolly D,
Sun Ra,
Urselle,
Make Up,
Idris Muhammad,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Johnny Osbourne,
Yellowson,
Eric Copeland,
A Certain Ratio,
The Saints,
Matthew Bourne,
The Sonics,
Jacob Miller,
The United States of America,
The Sisters of Mercy,
John Cale,
Drive Like Jehu,
David McCallum,
The Vogues,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Slick Rick,
Neu!,
Rotary Connection,
New York Dolls,
The Birthday Party,
Laurel Aitken,
Television Personalities,
Rekid,
Wasted Youth,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.