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 Tanzania and from London.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the güiro 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 Marine Girls to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Cabaret Voltaire. All the underground hits.
All New Order tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gories record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cymande,
Warsaw,
Suburban Knight,
Minor Threat,
A Certain Ratio,
The Monochrome Set,
Model 500,
Minutemen,
Jawbox,
Qualms,
Lindisfarne,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Misunderstood,
Drive Like Jehu,
Television Personalities,
Maurizio,
OOIOO,
Rod Modell,
Joy Division,
Trumans Water,
Junior Murvin,
Avey Tare,
Scott Walker,
Ten City,
The Litter,
Skarface,
Hasil Adkins,
Amon Düül II,
The Wake,
Big Daddy Kane,
Guru Guru,
FM Einheit,
Jacques Brel,
Althea and Donna,
The Fuzztones,
Flipper,
Popol Vuh,
Maleditus Sound,
D'Angelo,
MDC,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ken Boothe,
Barbara Tucker,
Ash Ra Tempel,
One Last Wish,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Smoke,
Neil Young,
Sam Rivers,
Mr. Review,
Donald Byrd,
Boredoms,
Skriet,
Crispy Ambulance,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Drexciya,
Black Bananas,
Rakim,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bad Manners,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.