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 Hungary and from Seoul.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Jeff Mills 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 F. McDonald. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bluetip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delta 5,
Liliput,
Ice-T,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Soulsonic Force,
Q65,
Man Eating Sloth,
Marmalade,
Graham Central Station,
Mars,
Byron Stingily,
Scrapy,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Kinks,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Selecter,
Pussy Galore,
Bootsy Collins,
Ornette Coleman,
Minnie Riperton,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Alarm Clocks,
Hasil Adkins,
The New Christs,
Curtis Mayfield,
Half Japanese,
Patti Smith,
Suicide,
Scott Walker,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Aaron Thompson,
New Age Steppers,
Model 500,
D'Angelo,
Clear Light,
Nation of Ulysses,
Hashim,
Brand Nubian,
Pharoah Sanders,
Chris & Cosey,
Neil Young,
The Happenings,
Carl Craig,
cv313,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Vainqueur,
Josef K,
Mission of Burma,
Avey Tare,
Gang Gang Dance,
Scan 7,
New York Dolls,
The Raincoats,
Chris Corsano,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Eric B and Rakim,
Flash Fearless,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Stooges,
Saccharine Trust,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.