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 Zambia and from Tokyo.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
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 Television to the dance 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 Stockholm Monsters. All the underground hits.
All T. Rex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every D'Angelo 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Fraelich record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drexciya,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Alton Ellis,
Pierre Henry,
Swans,
The Mojo Men,
Arthur Verocai,
The Stooges,
Fela Kuti,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Surgeon,
Crash Course in Science,
Bobby Byrd,
Soft Cell,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bluetip,
Interpol,
John Foxx,
The Smiths,
Harry Pussy,
Fugazi,
Cymande,
Bronski Beat,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Y Pants,
Marcia Griffiths,
Public Enemy,
Simply Red,
Dual Sessions,
Brothers Johnson,
Eddi Front,
Todd Rundgren,
Sister Nancy,
Kerri Chandler,
Kas Product,
Silicon Teens,
Black Moon,
Soulsonic Force,
H. Thieme,
Alphaville,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
the Normal,
Prince Buster,
Deakin,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
U.S. Maple,
Guru Guru,
Neu!,
MC5,
Procol Harum,
Lindisfarne,
Roy Ayers,
David Bowie,
Kayak,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Selecter,
The Walker Brothers,
Matthew Halsall,
The Young Rascals,
Janne Schatter,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack.
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.