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 Botswana and from Portland.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Ronnie Foster to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 New Order. All the underground hits.
All Funkadelic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Khruangbin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delon & Dalcan,
Das Ding,
Todd Terry,
Swell Maps,
Sonic Youth,
Grauzone,
Danielle Patucci,
Radio Birdman,
Zapp,
Marmalade,
Bobby Byrd,
Moby Grape,
Kool Moe Dee,
Parry Music,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Young Rascals,
Soul II Soul,
Severed Heads,
The Mojo Men,
Slave,
The Zeros,
T.S.O.L.,
The Invisible,
Television Personalities,
June Days,
Cecil Taylor,
JFA,
Sight & Sound,
Jawbox,
Gang of Four,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
ABBA,
Desert Stars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
In Retrospect,
DNA,
Main Source,
Letta Mbulu,
Kurtis Blow,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Adolescents,
Hot Snakes,
Davy DMX,
Gang Starr,
Swans,
Joy Division,
Lungfish,
Rakim,
Minor Threat,
The Human League,
A Certain Ratio,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Eden Ahbez,
Marc Almond,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Mars,
Average White Band,
Henry Cow,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.