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 Belgium and from Lyon.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Terrestrial Tones to the techno 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 Pharoah Sanders. All the underground hits.
All Carl Craig tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mantronix record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
The Smiths,
Masters at Work,
Kayak,
Rapeman,
Stetsasonic,
Monks,
Letta Mbulu,
Faust,
OOIOO,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Peter & Gordon,
The Stooges,
Swans,
The Dead C,
Wings,
Throbbing Gristle,
The United States of America,
The Walker Brothers,
Gichy Dan,
Slick Rick,
The Five Americans,
Siglo XX,
The Durutti Column,
The Cure,
Tubeway Army,
Chris & Cosey,
Public Enemy,
Boz Scaggs,
Gong,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Carl Craig,
Mo-Dettes,
Audionom,
the Human League,
Flipper,
Quando Quango,
Negative Approach,
Harpers Bizarre,
Mad Mike,
Rites of Spring,
Youth Brigade,
The Moody Blues,
The Associates,
Alice Coltrane,
Grey Daturas,
Metal Thangz,
Rod Modell,
Sparks,
Fatback Band,
Blancmange,
Donald Byrd,
Dead Boys,
The Slackers,
Sex Pistols,
Ultimate Spinach,
Intrusion,
The Remains,
Tomorrow,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Tres Demented,
Unwound,
Jerry's Kids,
The Doors, The Doors, The Doors, The Doors.
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.