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 Swaziland and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 güiro 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 Bronski Beat to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Gang Dance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Interpol,
The Names,
Model 500,
MC5,
Public Enemy,
Judy Mowatt,
Rotary Connection,
Boz Scaggs,
Morten Harket,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eden Ahbez,
Fear,
EPMD,
John Coltrane,
Main Source,
Don Cherry,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gabor Szabo,
Hashim,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Second Layer,
Babytalk,
Jawbox,
Stereo Dub,
Yazoo,
Donald Byrd,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ornette Coleman,
The Gap Band,
Tommy Roe,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Visage,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Saints,
Bang On A Can,
Quando Quango,
Eddi Front,
Joyce Sims,
The Fuzztones,
Duran Duran,
Gastr Del Sol,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Litter,
Tom Boy,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Black Moon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Moebius,
Traffic Nightmare,
Charles Mingus,
Buzzcocks,
Radiohead,
Ultravox,
Todd Terry,
Marvin Gaye,
Lou Reed,
Monks,
The Associates,
Terrestrial Tones,
KRS-One,
Fad Gadget,
Dorothy Ashby,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.