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 Laos and from Paris.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Jerry Gold Smith to the disco 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Davy DMX tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Clear Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
Sam Rivers,
Johnny Clarke,
Schoolly D,
Jeff Mills,
Agitation Free,
Idris Muhammad,
Gabor Szabo,
Neil Young,
Soft Cell,
Bill Near,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Roy Ayers,
Alice Coltrane,
Niagra,
The Slits,
CMW,
Interpol,
The Mojo Men,
Joensuu 1685,
Yazoo,
H. Thieme,
Fear,
Nation of Ulysses,
X-102,
Radiohead,
Grauzone,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Associates,
The Standells,
Blossom Toes,
Maurizio,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Wally Richardson,
The Tremeloes,
The Shadows of Knight,
Nik Kershaw,
Shoche,
Maleditus Sound,
Faraquet,
Todd Rundgren,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Boogie Down Productions,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Severed Heads,
Funkadelic,
Slave,
Tubeway Army,
Chris & Cosey,
Althea and Donna,
The Divine Comedy,
Ponytail,
The Vogues,
Rod Modell,
Rapeman,
Alton Ellis,
10cc,
The Fugs,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Spoonie Gee,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.