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 Turkmenistan and from Hong Kong.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 mellotron 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 The Real Kids to the crunk 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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Technova tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet 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 guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Maurizio,
Erykah Badu,
The Dead C,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Reuben Wilson,
Erasure,
the Human League,
DNA,
Minny Pops,
The Knickerbockers,
Section 25,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Buckinghams,
Black Sheep,
Chrome,
Magma,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Standells,
Peter & Gordon,
David McCallum,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Cheater Slicks,
Silicon Teens,
Flash Fearless,
The Mojo Men,
The Smiths,
Sparks,
kango's stein massive,
Liliput,
Lalann,
Schoolly D,
Ornette Coleman,
Sällskapet,
The Red Krayola,
James White and The Blacks,
Fela Kuti,
Cal Tjader,
Bluetip,
Procol Harum,
Supertramp,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Dawn Penn,
Heaven 17,
Jawbox,
Rod Modell,
Bauhaus,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Glenn Branca,
the Bar-Kays,
Au Pairs,
Simply Red,
The New Christs,
The Residents,
Susan Cadogan,
Magazine,
Arthur Verocai,
The Seeds,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.