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 Bahrain and from Manchester.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Soulsonic Force to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Interpol,
The Misunderstood,
Junior Murvin,
Alphaville,
Pulsallama,
The Wake,
48th St. Collective,
Fear,
Lakeside,
Michelle Simonal,
Babytalk,
Jawbox,
Quando Quango,
The Modern Lovers,
T. Rex,
cv313,
Pole,
Funky Four + One,
Theoretical Girls,
Kas Product,
The Moleskins,
Gang Starr,
New Age Steppers,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Golliwogs,
Althea and Donna,
The Fire Engines,
Wings,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Gladiators,
Delon & Dalcan,
Anakelly,
ABBA,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Fugazi,
UT,
Sonic Youth,
The Mummies,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Mary Jane Girls,
X-Ray Spex,
Neil Young,
Buzzcocks,
Sam Rivers,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Audionom,
Franke,
Arab on Radar,
Nik Kershaw,
The Selecter,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Skarface,
Ultimate Spinach,
Scientists,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lee Hazlewood,
Electric Prunes,
Bad Manners,
The Mojo Men,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.