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 Cameroon and from Bologna.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 OOIOO to the rap 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 Boogie Down Productions. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Desert Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wings,
Dead Boys,
Cecil Taylor,
Joey Negro,
Popol Vuh,
Radio Birdman,
Loose Ends,
R.M.O.,
Lyres,
DNA,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Johnny Clarke,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Basic Channel,
New York Dolls,
Curtis Mayfield,
Morten Harket,
Eddi Front,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Smiths,
Brick,
The Litter,
Bush Tetras,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kerri Chandler,
Grandmaster Flash,
8 Eyed Spy,
Echospace,
Little Man,
Soulsonic Force,
DJ Sneak,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Reuben Wilson,
The Fortunes,
The Associates,
Stereo Dub,
LL Cool J,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Trojans,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Crispy Ambulance,
Khruangbin,
The United States of America,
Absolute Body Control,
Tears for Fears,
The Doors,
Aaron Thompson,
the Human League,
MDC,
Gong,
Joe Smooth,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Theoretical Girls,
Sight & Sound,
The Saints,
The Monks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Avey Tare,
Funky Four + One,
Newcleus,
Reagan Youth,
Davy DMX,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.