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 Mozambique and from Hong Kong.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Fortunes to the jazz 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 the Sonics. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy 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 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
Basic Channel,
Connie Case,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Lucky Dragons,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wings,
Angry Samoans,
Wolf Eyes,
Bob Dylan,
The Evens,
Dave Gahan,
Eve St. Jones,
Lightning Bolt,
Section 25,
Warsaw,
Half Japanese,
Sugar Minott,
Easy Going,
Marine Girls,
The Saints,
Arab on Radar,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Laurel Aitken,
Pet Shop Boys,
JFA,
Porter Ricks,
Kurtis Blow,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
kango's stein massive,
Spandau Ballet,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Peter & Gordon,
Pantaleimon,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Avey Tare,
Pagans,
Eurythmics,
Mantronix,
Delta 5,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Residents,
Ice-T,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cheater Slicks,
The New Christs,
Sexual Harrassment,
Sight & Sound,
Bronski Beat,
The Detroit Cobras,
Q65,
Arthur Verocai,
Marvin Gaye,
Eden Ahbez,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Todd Rundgren,
Scott Walker,
Main Source,
Surgeon,
The Gladiators,
the Human League,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.