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 Oman and from Shanghai.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Johnny Osbourne 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 The Count Five. All the underground hits.
All The Knickerbockers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantytec,
Dennis Brown,
Wally Richardson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Laurel Aitken,
Frankie Knuckles,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jacques Brel,
The Blackbyrds,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Blancmange,
Joy Division,
Bootsy Collins,
Hot Snakes,
E-Dancer,
Swans,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Colin Newman,
Pulsallama,
Clear Light,
Gregory Isaacs,
Wire,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Aloha Tigers,
Aural Exciters,
The Human League,
Electric Prunes,
Suicide,
Sister Nancy,
Jacob Miller,
Rufus Thomas,
Zero Boys,
the Swans,
Bad Manners,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tres Demented,
Tubeway Army,
The Dirtbombs,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
the Sonics,
Funkadelic,
Von Mondo,
Youth Brigade,
Sonic Youth,
Junior Murvin,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Peter & Gordon,
Harpers Bizarre,
David Axelrod,
Audionom,
Spandau Ballet,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Organ,
Agent Orange,
cv313,
David McCallum,
Ludus,
Marine Girls,
The Saints,
Public Enemy,
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.