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 Nicaragua and from Milan.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 R.M.O. to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Lynne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Anthony Braxton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Suicide,
Prince Buster,
Alphaville,
The Litter,
Johnny Clarke,
Sonic Youth,
The Gladiators,
Anthony Braxton,
Kool Moe Dee,
the Human League,
In Retrospect,
Dennis Brown,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Tubeway Army,
Panda Bear,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Masters at Work,
China Crisis,
Radiohead,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ludus,
The Sound,
Eden Ahbez,
The Dirtbombs,
Quantec,
The Modern Lovers,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
New Order,
Yellowson,
Laurel Aitken,
the Slits,
Au Pairs,
Silicon Teens,
The Real Kids,
The Gun Club,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Blues Magoos,
The Monochrome Set,
Yazoo,
Radiopuhelimet,
Porter Ricks,
David Bowie,
Lower 48,
Pole,
DJ Style,
H. Thieme,
Country Teasers,
The Barracudas,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Shuggie Otis,
10cc,
X-Ray Spex,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jandek,
Scientists,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.