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 Dominican Republic and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Alison Limerick to the disco 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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Scan 7 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Audionom record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Make Up record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Zero Boys,
Dawn Penn,
Alphaville,
Jacques Brel,
Ronan,
Nas,
Yaz,
T.S.O.L.,
Kerri Chandler,
Jeru the Damaja,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Robert Hood,
Livin' Joy,
David McCallum,
Vainqueur,
Drexciya,
Crash Course in Science,
Swell Maps,
Lyres,
Dennis Brown,
Dark Day,
Underground Resistance,
Al Stewart,
Colin Newman,
KRS-One,
Johnny Osbourne,
Magma,
Marshall Jefferson,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
the Slits,
Dorothy Ashby,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ken Boothe,
Index,
The Standells,
Hoover,
Inner City,
Maleditus Sound,
Sight & Sound,
Qualms,
Gerry Rafferty,
Cecil Taylor,
Monks,
The United States of America,
Skriet,
The Golliwogs,
a-ha,
Public Image Ltd.,
Godley & Creme,
Yusef Lateef,
Deadbeat,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Technova,
The Smiths,
Kool Moe Dee,
Faust,
The Modern Lovers,
Althea and Donna,
Donny Hathaway,
Terry Callier,
The Toasters,
Dead Boys,
Roxette, Roxette, Roxette, Roxette.
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.