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 Tuvalu and from Copenhagen.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 J.B.'s to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nik Kershaw 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blancmange,
the Slits,
ABC,
Arab on Radar,
Harmonia,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lalo Schifrin,
Barrington Levy,
Bob Dylan,
Gregory Isaacs,
Nas,
Man Eating Sloth,
Los Fastidios,
Reuben Wilson,
La Düsseldorf,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Brothers Johnson,
The Residents,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Chris Corsano,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Wake,
Alice Coltrane,
Public Enemy,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Agitation Free,
Lungfish,
Masters at Work,
Alphaville,
Dual Sessions,
Sam Rivers,
Das Ding,
Jeff Mills,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
OOIOO,
Lebanon Hanover,
China Crisis,
Max Romeo,
Lucky Dragons,
The Beau Brummels,
Lee Hazlewood,
Groovy Waters,
Idris Muhammad,
The Zeros,
Nation of Ulysses,
Pet Shop Boys,
Alton Ellis,
Mission of Burma,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Vladislav Delay,
Goldenarms,
Ossler,
One Last Wish,
AZ,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
John Holt,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Con Funk Shun,
The Gladiators,
DNA,
Bobby Byrd,
The Busters, The Busters, The Busters, The Busters.
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.