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 Toronto.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
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 R.M.O. to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All The Mighty Diamonds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
DJ Sneak,
The Wake,
EPMD,
Pussy Galore,
Theoretical Girls,
Patti Smith,
Mars,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Monks,
Index,
Pantytec,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Minutemen,
Fluxion,
Judy Mowatt,
Suicide,
Outsiders,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Brick,
the Germs,
Ohio Players,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Mission of Burma,
The United States of America,
Silicon Teens,
The Residents,
Ultravox,
Dennis Brown,
June Days,
The Gladiators,
Anthony Braxton,
David Axelrod,
Bronski Beat,
Sonic Youth,
LL Cool J,
Josef K,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Boz Scaggs,
ABBA,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Reagan Youth,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
AZ,
Cluster,
Rufus Thomas,
Pet Shop Boys,
Leonard Cohen,
Visage,
Moebius,
Gang Green,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Mantronix,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Black Sheep,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Erasure,
Hardrive,
Danielle Patucci,
Darondo,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog.
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.