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 Morocco and from Paris.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Livin' Joy to the disco 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 Amon Düül. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Guru Guru record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Motorama,
The New Christs,
ABC,
Fela Kuti,
Andrew Hill,
Moebius,
Sparks,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rapeman,
Robert Hood,
Roy Ayers,
The Gories,
The Dirtbombs,
Soft Cell,
D'Angelo,
Schoolly D,
Fear,
Isaac Hayes,
The Techniques,
Arcadia,
Cameo,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Thee Headcoats,
The Names,
The Moody Blues,
The Tremeloes,
Bootsy Collins,
Jacques Brel,
Newcleus,
Ornette Coleman,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jacob Miller,
Glenn Branca,
The Golliwogs,
U.S. Maple,
Gang Gang Dance,
cv313,
the Slits,
Mad Mike,
Eli Mardock,
Zero Boys,
Negative Approach,
Amazonics,
John Coltrane,
Pharoah Sanders,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Seeds,
The Electric Prunes,
Neu!,
Adolescents,
The Shadows of Knight,
Roxy Music,
The Misunderstood,
Dark Day,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Letta Mbulu,
Sam Rivers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Beau Brummels,
Royal Trux,
Chrome, Chrome, Chrome, Chrome.
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.