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 Australia and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Delhi.
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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Country Teasers to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All The Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Standells record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Max Romeo,
Gang Green,
Dead Boys,
MC5,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rufus Thomas,
Procol Harum,
Pulsallama,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Brothers Johnson,
E-Dancer,
Black Sheep,
Sugar Minott,
Bobby Sherman,
Absolute Body Control,
Joensuu 1685,
Index,
The Blues Magoos,
The Gladiators,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Stiv Bators,
The Dirtbombs,
John Lydon,
Ituana,
Black Pus,
Hashim,
The Fall,
Suburban Knight,
Public Enemy,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Piero Umiliani,
Lindisfarne,
Accadde A,
Rod Modell,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Techniques,
Marvin Gaye,
D'Angelo,
The Wake,
David Bowie,
Public Image Ltd.,
Animal Collective,
Skarface,
Tomorrow,
The Fortunes,
Radiohead,
The Last Poets,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Trojans,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Joy Division,
Gong,
The United States of America,
Wolf Eyes,
The Gories,
The Slits,
Amon Düül II,
China Crisis,
Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry.
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.