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 Latvia and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Houston.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Godley & Creme to the disco 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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythim Is Rhythim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
The Grass Roots,
The Evens,
Joe Finger,
The Slackers,
Livin' Joy,
Deadbeat,
Arthur Verocai,
Intrusion,
Matthew Bourne,
Derrick Morgan,
Blake Baxter,
Danielle Patucci,
Basic Channel,
Glenn Branca,
The Associates,
Connie Case,
Sam Rivers,
The Buckinghams,
Matthew Halsall,
The Last Poets,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Slits,
T.S.O.L.,
Rufus Thomas,
The Index,
48th St. Collective,
Symarip,
La Düsseldorf,
Judy Mowatt,
The Knickerbockers,
Television,
The Seeds,
Maleditus Sound,
Sparks,
The Dave Clark Five,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Motorama,
Grandmaster Flash,
Jerry's Kids,
Scott Walker,
Das Ding,
Camouflage,
Ossler,
Ronnie Foster,
Brothers Johnson,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jacques Brel,
Piero Umiliani,
Scratch Acid,
Rakim,
Archie Shepp,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Smoke,
The Move,
Make Up,
Grey Daturas,
Sister Nancy,
Mantronix,
Infiniti,
Babytalk,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.