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 Jamaica and from Madrid.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Shanghai.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the marimba 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 Lalo Schifrin to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Pulsallama. All the underground hits.
All Kings Of Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fluxion 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Underground Resistance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Sheep,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Alphaville,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Divine Comedy,
The Black Dice,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Flamin' Groovies,
Glambeats Corp.,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Wasted Youth,
The Durutti Column,
Shoche,
X-Ray Spex,
Juan Atkins,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Ludus,
Parry Music,
Barrington Levy,
Stiv Bators,
Altered Images,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lungfish,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Litter,
Brick,
Black Bananas,
Quando Quango,
The Sonics,
Roxette,
cv313,
Gastr Del Sol,
New York Dolls,
Massinfluence,
Skaos,
Amazonics,
the Human League,
Derrick Morgan,
Silicon Teens,
The Flesh Eaters,
Neil Young,
Ponytail,
Zero Boys,
Chrome,
Scan 7,
David Axelrod,
Black Moon,
Franke,
Banda Bassotti,
The Blackbyrds,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Fugs,
Harpers Bizarre,
Max Romeo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
the Bar-Kays,
Roger Hodgson,
LL Cool J, LL Cool J, LL Cool J, LL Cool J.
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.