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 Peru and from Lyon.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 arpeggiator 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 Jandek to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Cameo. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heavy D & The Boyz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
Mark Hollis,
Rufus Thomas,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Count Five,
Shuggie Otis,
Chris Corsano,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Aswad,
The Five Americans,
Jandek,
X-101,
Lucky Dragons,
Scott Walker,
Inner City,
Ronnie Foster,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Fortunes,
AZ,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lalann,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Procol Harum,
The Flesh Eaters,
Nils Olav,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Ultra Naté,
Shoche,
Derrick Morgan,
Kurtis Blow,
Tommy Roe,
Pharoah Sanders,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Fire Engines,
Sonny Sharrock,
Kenny Larkin,
Eve St. Jones,
Jeff Lynne,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gang Starr,
D'Angelo,
Mr. Review,
Nirvana,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Motions,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Theoretical Girls,
Robert Hood,
Thompson Twins,
Sun Ra,
Terry Callier,
The Slits,
Peter and Kerry,
Fat Boys,
Circle Jerks,
ABBA,
Monolake,
EPMD,
The Tremeloes,
The Vogues,
Bob Dylan,
Public Image Ltd.,
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.