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 Kiribati and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 synthesizer 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 Juan Atkins to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Yaz. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
La Düsseldorf,
Brand Nubian,
Scratch Acid,
Pagans,
Yazoo,
The Gories,
Tears for Fears,
Wolf Eyes,
Shoche,
Massinfluence,
Nas,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Liliput,
Zapp,
The Gun Club,
Throbbing Gristle,
Connie Case,
The Move,
MDC,
kango's stein massive,
Schoolly D,
Isaac Hayes,
Suburban Knight,
The Flesh Eaters,
Howard Jones,
Barrington Levy,
The Saints,
Nico,
Marine Girls,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Black Pus,
Roxette,
Audionom,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Amon Düül II,
Bauhaus,
Siglo XX,
Hoover,
Aaron Thompson,
The Monochrome Set,
The American Breed,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Anakelly,
Sexual Harrassment,
Fluxion,
Alphaville,
The Fire Engines,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Mr. Review,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Agitation Free,
Wasted Youth,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Pop Group,
Faraquet,
Accadde A,
Malaria!,
Radiohead,
Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore.
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.