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 Switzerland and from Stockholm.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Michelle Simonal to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Charles Mingus. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eurythmics 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
AZ,
Warsaw,
Sexual Harrassment,
Altered Images,
Albert Ayler,
Ultra Naté,
Mo-Dettes,
The Martian,
Shuggie Otis,
Vainqueur,
Henry Cow,
The Associates,
Carl Craig,
Rapeman,
Ornette Coleman,
Camouflage,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Unrelated Segments,
Surgeon,
Lou Christie,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Remains,
Public Enemy,
Cal Tjader,
Jandek,
Gichy Dan,
Soul Sonic Force,
Idris Muhammad,
The Misunderstood,
Alison Limerick,
Mars,
Flash Fearless,
Barry Ungar,
The Birthday Party,
Niagra,
Colin Newman,
The Modern Lovers,
The Five Americans,
Mandrill,
Slick Rick,
Amon Düül,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Residents,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Cheater Slicks,
The Monks,
Sun City Girls,
Tim Buckley,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Robert Wyatt,
Andrew Hill,
The Busters,
China Crisis,
Pagans,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Alarm Clocks,
Basic Channel,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Clear Light,
Prince Buster,
Marine Girls,
Morten Harket,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.