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 Libya and from Bologna.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Grandmaster Flash to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Grandmaster Flash. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ten City 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Peanut Butter Conspiracy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
Das Ding,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Vladislav Delay,
Pierre Henry,
X-Ray Spex,
Groovy Waters,
Goldenarms,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Litter,
Jeff Lynne,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Joe Finger,
Young Marble Giants,
Mad Mike,
Mantronix,
Warren Ellis,
Ossler,
Shuggie Otis,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Derrick May,
Los Fastidios,
Throbbing Gristle,
Bobby Womack,
Donald Byrd,
Donny Hathaway,
Roger Hodgson,
Barry Ungar,
Flipper,
Scrapy,
Agitation Free,
The Toasters,
Nas,
Siglo XX,
Bang On A Can,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Blackbyrds,
Patti Smith,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
X-102,
Boz Scaggs,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Boogie Down Productions,
Letta Mbulu,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Deakin,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Busters,
Black Flag,
Pagans,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
David Axelrod,
Black Pus,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bizarre Inc.,
Surgeon,
Mission of Burma,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Zapp,
Joyce Sims,
Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario.
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.