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 Yemen and from Mumbai.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Sarah Menescal to the funk 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 The Stooges. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ponytail record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Toni Rubio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
Lakeside,
The Martian,
Fugazi,
Judy Mowatt,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Piero Umiliani,
The Tremeloes,
Faust,
Janne Schatter,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gabor Szabo,
Easy Going,
The Zeros,
Funky Four + One,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Electric Prunes,
Deepchord,
Nico,
Black Pus,
James White and The Blacks,
Rekid,
JFA,
the Normal,
Arcadia,
The Electric Prunes,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Animal Collective,
The Blackbyrds,
Avey Tare,
Ten City,
Fela Kuti,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Soft Cell,
Bobby Womack,
The Red Krayola,
Flamin' Groovies,
Tubeway Army,
The Fuzztones,
Minny Pops,
Joe Finger,
Public Enemy,
Cymande,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Crash Course in Science,
Monolake,
Barry Ungar,
Loose Ends,
Alice Coltrane,
FM Einheit,
The Mummies,
Fatback Band,
Echospace,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lucky Dragons,
Con Funk Shun,
Television,
The Detroit Cobras,
Glambeats Corp.,
Johnny Osbourne,
AZ, AZ, AZ, AZ.
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.