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 Spain and from Portland.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 harpsichord 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 Carl Craig to the punk 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 Lungfish. All the underground hits.
All June Days 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 dance 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 an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Flock of Seagulls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
The Monochrome Set,
Guru Guru,
The New Christs,
Banda Bassotti,
The Smiths,
The Moleskins,
Sugar Minott,
Scratch Acid,
Pet Shop Boys,
This Heat,
Pulsallama,
Girls At Our Best!,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Piero Umiliani,
John Coltrane,
New Age Steppers,
Jeff Lynne,
Bauhaus,
Black Sheep,
Anthony Braxton,
Animal Collective,
The Alarm Clocks,
Make Up,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Dead C,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Jandek,
Roger Hodgson,
Leonard Cohen,
The Fugs,
Popol Vuh,
Schoolly D,
A Certain Ratio,
Fat Boys,
Boogie Down Productions,
Reuben Wilson,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Barrington Levy,
Tim Buckley,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Mars,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Oneida,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ultra Naté,
Todd Rundgren,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gang Gang Dance,
Sex Pistols,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Absolute Body Control,
These Immortal Souls,
Nirvana,
The Music Machine,
The Mummies,
Suicide,
Aural Exciters, Aural Exciters, Aural Exciters, Aural Exciters.
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.