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 Uganda and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the techno 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All The Pretty Things tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Young Rascals 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Raincoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
Ken Boothe,
Black Pus,
Gong,
The Raincoats,
Mission of Burma,
Judy Mowatt,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Warsaw,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Can,
Television Personalities,
Donny Hathaway,
Goldenarms,
Swans,
Dorothy Ashby,
UT,
EPMD,
Fluxion,
Outsiders,
X-102,
The Electric Prunes,
Joe Finger,
The Star Department,
Gang Gang Dance,
Audionom,
Pussy Galore,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Sonics,
Liliput,
The Fire Engines,
the Germs,
Nils Olav,
Soft Machine,
The Five Americans,
H. Thieme,
Ultra Naté,
Andrew Hill,
Mantronix,
In Retrospect,
The Fugs,
Josef K,
Slick Rick,
Kerrie Biddell,
Brick,
Man Parrish,
Ronan,
Con Funk Shun,
Eve St. Jones,
Scrapy,
Camouflage,
Robert Görl,
Porter Ricks,
Johnny Osbourne,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Fuzztones,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Animal Collective,
Grauzone,
Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon.
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.