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 Peru and from Portland.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 J.B.'s to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All Crispy Ambulance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yellowson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Five Americans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
La Düsseldorf,
The Selecter,
Khruangbin,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Brand Nubian,
Sonic Youth,
Kevin Saunderson,
Metal Thangz,
The Doors,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Godley & Creme,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Juan Atkins,
Tres Demented,
The New Christs,
The Sound,
Funky Four + One,
The Shadows of Knight,
Joey Negro,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Happenings,
48th St. Collective,
Flamin' Groovies,
Wire,
Motorama,
Das Ding,
Unrelated Segments,
Depeche Mode,
Warsaw,
Sexual Harrassment,
David Bowie,
The Beau Brummels,
Pere Ubu,
Michelle Simonal,
kango's stein massive,
Slave,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Guru Guru,
The Fugs,
B.T. Express,
The Seeds,
Lebanon Hanover,
Lindisfarne,
Alison Limerick,
R.M.O.,
David Axelrod,
Ultimate Spinach,
Grey Daturas,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Gun Club,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Faraquet,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sister Nancy,
The Alarm Clocks,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.