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 Sweden and from Toronto.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 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 Dark Day 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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All Skarface tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wolf Eyes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Bar-Kays,
Parry Music,
Subhumans,
Aural Exciters,
Archie Shepp,
Animal Collective,
Nico,
Ossler,
Wasted Youth,
Unrelated Segments,
Swell Maps,
Sarah Menescal,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Zero Boys,
Ralphi Rosario,
Fugazi,
Rhythm & Sound,
8 Eyed Spy,
Echospace,
Eric B and Rakim,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Faust,
DNA,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Jerry's Kids,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Suburban Knight,
Pharoah Sanders,
the Association,
Popol Vuh,
DJ Style,
Whodini,
Soft Machine,
Judy Mowatt,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Trumans Water,
Ice-T,
Morten Harket,
Icehouse,
Jesper Dahlback,
Eden Ahbez,
Hasil Adkins,
LL Cool J,
Todd Terry,
Grauzone,
Juan Atkins,
Wire,
The Evens,
Mad Mike,
Joensuu 1685,
Scientists,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
John Lydon,
The Smoke,
Nas,
Funkadelic,
Radiohead,
Amazonics,
The Busters,
Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment.
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.