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 Algeria and from Seoul.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Susan Cadogan to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 T. Rex. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a It's A Beautiful Day record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pulsallama,
The Toasters,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Moody Blues,
the Germs,
cv313,
the Sonics,
Altered Images,
Todd Terry,
Babytalk,
Motorama,
Fatback Band,
Erasure,
Public Image Ltd.,
Brick,
Average White Band,
Pierre Henry,
Derrick May,
Lou Christie,
Model 500,
Todd Rundgren,
Idris Muhammad,
The Birthday Party,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Livin' Joy,
DJ Sneak,
Kerri Chandler,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Talk Talk,
Jimmy McGriff,
Pagans,
New Order,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nirvana,
The Kinks,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
This Heat,
The Velvet Underground,
Massinfluence,
Suburban Knight,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Buckinghams,
The Slits,
Porter Ricks,
Theoretical Girls,
Quantec,
Ice-T,
the Soft Cell,
Subhumans,
Davy DMX,
Tommy Roe,
Thee Headcoats,
Y Pants,
Lalo Schifrin,
Dual Sessions,
Lungfish,
Lalann,
Ituana,
Circle Jerks,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.