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 Italy and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 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 Zapp to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Motorama. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
Alice Coltrane,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Cramps,
Howard Jones,
The Remains,
The Electric Prunes,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Can,
John Holt,
Slick Rick,
Parry Music,
Godley & Creme,
X-102,
Anthony Braxton,
Drexciya,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Archie Shepp,
Minutemen,
Moss Icon,
The Happenings,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Zero Boys,
PIL,
This Heat,
Hot Snakes,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brand Nubian,
Joe Smooth,
The Dead C,
Crash Course in Science,
The Monks,
Cheater Slicks,
Eric B and Rakim,
Q65,
Albert Ayler,
The Searchers,
Leonard Cohen,
The Slits,
The Dirtbombs,
The Litter,
David Bowie,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Spoonie Gee,
These Immortal Souls,
Michelle Simonal,
R.M.O.,
Skaos,
Reuben Wilson,
The Real Kids,
Rotary Connection,
the Soft Cell,
Guru Guru,
Minnie Riperton,
A Certain Ratio,
Warsaw,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Offenders,
The Move,
The Doobie Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, The Doobie Brothers.
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.