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 Botswana and from Stockholm.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 snare 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 Guru Guru to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Gang Gang Dance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana 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 an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ornette Coleman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Wake,
David Axelrod,
Faust,
Pussy Galore,
The Smiths,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Smog,
Grandmaster Flash,
Isaac Hayes,
Thompson Twins,
Easy Going,
Royal Trux,
Make Up,
The Searchers,
Erasure,
The Knickerbockers,
Robert Wyatt,
Fugazi,
The Count Five,
Funkadelic,
The Happenings,
Quadrant,
Marine Girls,
Kas Product,
10cc,
Jacob Miller,
Suburban Knight,
The Beau Brummels,
Pulsallama,
Maleditus Sound,
Franke,
The Angels of Light,
Bronski Beat,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Robert Görl,
Avey Tare,
Quando Quango,
Zapp,
Nik Kershaw,
K-Klass,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Gun Club,
The Dave Clark Five,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Fluxion,
Essential Logic,
Slick Rick,
Judy Mowatt,
Popol Vuh,
Rapeman,
Skaos,
Ornette Coleman,
Dual Sessions,
Swans,
Nick Fraelich,
The Selecter,
Fad Gadget,
Ultimate Spinach,
Masters at Work,
Eric Copeland,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton.
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.