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 China and from Seoul.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 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 Jeff Mills to the jazz 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 Radio Birdman. All the underground hits.
All The Music Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fort Wilson Riot record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Trojans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
Barbara Tucker,
The Fortunes,
The Offenders,
Barry Ungar,
Carl Craig,
Schoolly D,
Pole,
Basic Channel,
Los Fastidios,
Alison Limerick,
The Residents,
Visage,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The New Christs,
The Fugs,
CMW,
DJ Sneak,
Donny Hathaway,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
F. McDonald,
Warsaw,
Yusef Lateef,
Ituana,
Simply Red,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bush Tetras,
Altered Images,
The Litter,
Bobby Hutcherson,
James White and The Blacks,
David Axelrod,
Masters at Work,
Accadde A,
Joensuu 1685,
The Standells,
The Fuzztones,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Scott Walker,
K-Klass,
Japan,
Funkadelic,
The Skatalites,
Radio Birdman,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Silicon Teens,
Sarah Menescal,
Dorothy Ashby,
Q65,
The Misunderstood,
Wally Richardson,
Technova,
The Human League,
Blossom Toes,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kerrie Biddell,
Rites of Spring,
Sexual Harrassment,
Zero Boys,
the Normal,
Vainqueur,
Ronan,
David McCallum,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.