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 Rwanda 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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Lille.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 Unrelated Segments to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All Fort Wilson Riot tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 48th St. Collective record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
Monks,
Rakim,
David McCallum,
Make Up,
The Gun Club,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Swell Maps,
Accadde A,
Flash Fearless,
Sex Pistols,
Duran Duran,
The Smoke,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Janne Schatter,
Pagans,
This Heat,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Count Five,
Altered Images,
Kool Moe Dee,
Anakelly,
Mark Hollis,
Mantronix,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Modern Lovers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Deadbeat,
Saccharine Trust,
Eurythmics,
The Fugs,
Harmonia,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Schoolly D,
Man Parrish,
Chrome,
Magma,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Red Krayola,
Hoover,
Von Mondo,
Con Funk Shun,
Al Stewart,
Jeff Mills,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Terrestrial Tones,
Kevin Saunderson,
Desert Stars,
Eve St. Jones,
Blossom Toes,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Young Marble Giants,
Sandy B,
Eric Copeland,
The Fire Engines,
Outsiders,
Pylon,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Suburban Knight,
Ossler,
The Offenders,
Ludus, Ludus, Ludus, Ludus.
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.