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 Guyana and from Copenhagen.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Fortunes to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Model 500. All the underground hits.
All Idris Muhammad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Banda Bassotti,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Interpol,
Joy Division,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Altered Images,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sunsets and Hearts,
KRS-One,
The Names,
Fear,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Gladiators,
Man Parrish,
Mantronix,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Organ,
Soul II Soul,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
OOIOO,
Byron Stingily,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bill Wells,
The Standells,
Nik Kershaw,
Kas Product,
A Certain Ratio,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
These Immortal Souls,
Grey Daturas,
The Martian,
Shuggie Otis,
The Angels of Light,
Robert Wyatt,
Yazoo,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Dead C,
Janne Schatter,
The Knickerbockers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Public Enemy,
The Motions,
The Move,
Depeche Mode,
The Smoke,
Marc Almond,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Clear Light,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Colin Newman,
DJ Sneak,
Chris Corsano,
The Star Department,
Los Fastidios,
Animal Collective,
Pantytec,
Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim.
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.