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 Iran and from Woodstock.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Blackbyrds to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Josef K. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Mills 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 synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roger Hodgson,
Harry Pussy,
Iggy Pop,
Wolf Eyes,
The Offenders,
The Gap Band,
Fear,
D'Angelo,
The Blues Magoos,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Absolute Body Control,
DJ Style,
Negative Approach,
Bronski Beat,
Eric B and Rakim,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Drexciya,
Brothers Johnson,
Aloha Tigers,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Andrew Hill,
Main Source,
the Bar-Kays,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Neu!,
Dark Day,
Bootsy Collins,
Darondo,
Audionom,
The Velvet Underground,
Bad Manners,
Black Moon,
Bill Near,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Quando Quango,
MDC,
Khruangbin,
Erykah Badu,
Animal Collective,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
H. Thieme,
Joensuu 1685,
The Mojo Men,
Basic Channel,
The Move,
Nation of Ulysses,
Big Daddy Kane,
Television,
Kayak,
Godley & Creme,
Outsiders,
The Wake,
The Fortunes,
Black Flag,
The Invisible,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Electric Prunes,
LL Cool J,
Reuben Wilson,
Traffic Nightmare,
Guru Guru,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.