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 Swaziland and from Philadelphia.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Robert Hood to the disco 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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Kerrie Biddell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Real Kids,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Erasure,
Radiohead,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Graham Central Station,
Slave,
X-101,
Eve St. Jones,
This Heat,
Pharoah Sanders,
Unwound,
Black Pus,
Rakim,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Ituana,
Bizarre Inc.,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Move,
The Fuzztones,
Fela Kuti,
Ludus,
Joe Finger,
Yazoo,
Quantec,
Laurel Aitken,
Heaven 17,
Quadrant,
Tubeway Army,
Ultra Naté,
Barry Ungar,
Black Bananas,
X-102,
Bronski Beat,
the Soft Cell,
Intrusion,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lower 48,
Jesper Dahlback,
Neil Young,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Matthew Bourne,
Sparks,
Mars,
Sällskapet,
UT,
Pierre Henry,
kango's stein massive,
Brick,
A Certain Ratio,
Ronan,
T.S.O.L.,
Japan,
Roy Ayers,
The Selecter,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bluetip,
Section 25,
The Star Department,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.