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 Papua New Guinea and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez 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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 June Days. All the underground hits.
All Teenage Jesus and the Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joyce Sims 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dave Gahan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Dave Clark Five,
Chris Corsano,
Wire,
Blossom Toes,
Donald Byrd,
48th St. Collective,
Jeff Lynne,
Iggy Pop,
The Vogues,
Darondo,
Roy Ayers,
The Mojo Men,
Warren Ellis,
the Fania All-Stars,
Prince Buster,
Unwound,
Infiniti,
Mr. Review,
Laurel Aitken,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Fear,
Cheater Slicks,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Motions,
Boz Scaggs,
Agent Orange,
Ludus,
Yusef Lateef,
Siglo XX,
Surgeon,
The Evens,
Eurythmics,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kerri Chandler,
Pagans,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Eden Ahbez,
Bill Wells,
Masters at Work,
Susan Cadogan,
The Pretty Things,
Judy Mowatt,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Dark Day,
Derrick Morgan,
Flash Fearless,
The Fall,
Q and Not U,
Schoolly D,
Franke,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Jawbox,
Cymande,
Easy Going,
Visage,
The Zeros,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Zapp,
Ultimate Spinach,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.