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 Colombia and from Madrid.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 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 Scion to the rock 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 Lou Reed & Metallica. All the underground hits.
All John Foxx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deadbeat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Deadbeat,
Lou Christie,
Dennis Brown,
The Kinks,
Matthew Halsall,
David Axelrod,
Subhumans,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bobby Byrd,
Tubeway Army,
The Fire Engines,
The Associates,
Inner City,
Delta 5,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Dark Day,
Minnie Riperton,
Connie Case,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Boredoms,
Albert Ayler,
The Monochrome Set,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
New York Dolls,
The Black Dice,
Ituana,
Arthur Verocai,
The Motions,
Flipper,
Parry Music,
Alphaville,
Pagans,
The Angels of Light,
Erykah Badu,
Wings,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Popol Vuh,
Monolake,
Rites of Spring,
The Music Machine,
DNA,
Junior Murvin,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
James White and The Blacks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Trumans Water,
Das Ding,
Lakeside,
Schoolly D,
Loose Ends,
Radiohead,
Todd Rundgren,
Saccharine Trust,
ABBA,
Aloha Tigers,
The Names,
Moebius,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.