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 Benin and from Columbus.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba 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 Average White Band to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All Minny Pops tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skaos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Television record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Moby Grape,
Peter and Kerry,
E-Dancer,
Skaos,
Maleditus Sound,
Nick Fraelich,
Mars,
Agitation Free,
Aloha Tigers,
Youth Brigade,
Byron Stingily,
Pulsallama,
48th St. Collective,
U.S. Maple,
Surgeon,
Silicon Teens,
The Angels of Light,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Smoke,
Fugazi,
Nas,
Eric Dolphy,
Fat Boys,
Buzzcocks,
X-Ray Spex,
Iggy Pop,
In Retrospect,
OOIOO,
The Cramps,
Qualms,
Eric Copeland,
Siglo XX,
Tres Demented,
the Germs,
Mandrill,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gil Scott Heron,
One Last Wish,
Brick,
The Cowsills,
Mo-Dettes,
Flamin' Groovies,
New Order,
Andrew Hill,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Liliput,
Urselle,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Saints,
Cal Tjader,
Cecil Taylor,
The Human League,
The Slits,
Stockholm Monsters,
Johnny Clarke,
Nation of Ulysses,
Harpers Bizarre,
Danielle Patucci,
Glambeats Corp.,
Sonny Sharrock,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.