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 Chad and from Madrid.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 theremin 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 Pylon to the crunk 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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All Barbara Tucker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MDC 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 a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Banda Bassotti,
Procol Harum,
Terry Callier,
Dawn Penn,
Popol Vuh,
John Foxx,
Das Ding,
The Moody Blues,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lou Christie,
Panda Bear,
Ken Boothe,
The Smiths,
Alton Ellis,
Jeff Mills,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lebanon Hanover,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
U.S. Maple,
The Angels of Light,
Derrick May,
Adolescents,
Average White Band,
The Evens,
Scrapy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Soul II Soul,
Shuggie Otis,
Lou Reed,
Dark Day,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Visage,
Crime,
Public Enemy,
Letta Mbulu,
The Grass Roots,
Talk Talk,
Prince Buster,
The Human League,
Faraquet,
The Dirtbombs,
David Bowie,
FM Einheit,
Amon Düül II,
Roxette,
The Neon Judgement,
Interpol,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Smoke,
The Kinks,
Nas,
Joey Negro,
Andrew Hill,
Royal Trux,
Yusef Lateef,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Cluster,
La Düsseldorf,
The Vogues,
David Axelrod,
Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks.
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.