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 St Lucia and from Lagos.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
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 Ken Boothe to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All The Move tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Popol Vuh record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Agent Orange,
R.M.O.,
The Names,
Byron Stingily,
Inner City,
Motorama,
Fatback Band,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Buckinghams,
Bobby Byrd,
Bush Tetras,
James White and The Blacks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Fugs,
The Blackbyrds,
Man Eating Sloth,
Royal Trux,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Average White Band,
MDC,
The Busters,
Tom Boy,
Q and Not U,
a-ha,
Quantec,
Nico,
Tim Buckley,
Traffic Nightmare,
Girls At Our Best!,
A Certain Ratio,
Goldenarms,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Brass Construction,
Electric Prunes,
Bill Near,
Little Man,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Avey Tare,
Sam Rivers,
Wire,
Radio Birdman,
Lalo Schifrin,
David McCallum,
the Sonics,
The Victims,
Funky Four + One,
The Move,
Aloha Tigers,
Gregory Isaacs,
Tres Demented,
The Zeros,
Franke,
New Age Steppers,
Von Mondo,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Kurtis Blow,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Modern Lovers,
Sällskapet,
Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore.
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.