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 Namibia and from Winnipeg.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Althea and Donna to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MDC 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Beau Brummels record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
a-ha,
The Real Kids,
Amon Düül II,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sam Rivers,
Sarah Menescal,
Warren Ellis,
Essential Logic,
Lakeside,
Toni Rubio,
Stockholm Monsters,
Public Image Ltd.,
Sex Pistols,
Circle Jerks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Motions,
Sonic Youth,
PIL,
Harry Pussy,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Section 25,
David McCallum,
Soul II Soul,
Eve St. Jones,
Thee Headcoats,
Stereo Dub,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bob Dylan,
Barrington Levy,
Kevin Saunderson,
Eric Dolphy,
Television,
Joe Smooth,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Boredoms,
Sister Nancy,
Wings,
Darondo,
The Associates,
Inner City,
Roy Ayers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
B.T. Express,
MC5,
The Pretty Things,
Marmalade,
John Coltrane,
Juan Atkins,
Newcleus,
Shuggie Otis,
Vladislav Delay,
Albert Ayler,
Laurel Aitken,
Gang Starr,
DNA,
Minutemen,
Alison Limerick,
Buzzcocks,
Monks,
Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp.
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.