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 Libya and from Beijing.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Sunsets and Hearts to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Cal Tjader. All the underground hits.
All Ituana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Todd Terry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warsaw,
Idris Muhammad,
Archie Shepp,
Agent Orange,
Kurtis Blow,
Kaleidoscope,
Camouflage,
DNA,
Ralphi Rosario,
Byron Stingily,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Saints,
Pet Shop Boys,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Howard Jones,
Althea and Donna,
The Slackers,
Icehouse,
Swans,
DJ Sneak,
Boz Scaggs,
The Black Dice,
Fifty Foot Hose,
X-102,
The Human League,
Public Enemy,
Freddie Wadling,
The Mummies,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Litter,
The Walker Brothers,
Moby Grape,
Excepter,
Alison Limerick,
Kerrie Biddell,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Rekid,
Sex Pistols,
Lyres,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Y Pants,
Alphaville,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Nico,
The Evens,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Knickerbockers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Wolf Eyes,
Harpers Bizarre,
Siglo XX,
Barbara Tucker,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Malaria!,
Eden Ahbez,
Massinfluence,
Wings,
Guru Guru,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Toasters,
Roxette, Roxette, Roxette, Roxette.
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.