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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the theremin 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 Dave Gahan to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Todd Terry. All the underground hits.
All Smog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Durutti Column 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 güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a D'Angelo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Dolphy,
Delta 5,
Rod Modell,
Eddi Front,
Technova,
Bill Near,
Ohio Players,
The Monks,
Deakin,
Joy Division,
Brand Nubian,
Japan,
The Seeds,
Susan Cadogan,
The Shadows of Knight,
Dead Boys,
the Germs,
Joe Finger,
The United States of America,
Lou Christie,
Ken Boothe,
T. Rex,
a-ha,
The Martian,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The J.B.'s,
Mad Mike,
Laurel Aitken,
Ornette Coleman,
Skarface,
Sparks,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Last Poets,
The Smoke,
the Human League,
The Modern Lovers,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rakim,
The Blues Magoos,
Brass Construction,
Pylon,
FM Einheit,
Soft Machine,
Sun Ra,
Nas,
Second Layer,
The Smiths,
Little Man,
Minny Pops,
Blossom Toes,
The Move,
Ten City,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dark Day,
Marc Almond,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sun City Girls,
The Star Department,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.