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 Russia and from Shanghai.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Sonny Sharrock to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 New York Dolls. All the underground hits.
All Mars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Massinfluence record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Au Pairs,
The Sound,
Henry Cow,
Isaac Hayes,
Gang Green,
Peter & Gordon,
ABC,
Connie Case,
This Heat,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Swans,
Reagan Youth,
Parry Music,
The Alarm Clocks,
Angry Samoans,
Visage,
Niagra,
Model 500,
Zero Boys,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Blake Baxter,
Liliput,
K-Klass,
Slave,
The Motions,
Jeru the Damaja,
Von Mondo,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
F. McDonald,
Khruangbin,
Terrestrial Tones,
Avey Tare,
Ralphi Rosario,
Fear,
Scan 7,
Unrelated Segments,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Skarface,
The Barracudas,
Big Daddy Kane,
Sonny Sharrock,
Gil Scott Heron,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Mummies,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Anthony Braxton,
Cymande,
Pulsallama,
Buzzcocks,
Depeche Mode,
Kayak,
Outsiders,
Rapeman,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Country Teasers,
CMW,
Theoretical Girls,
David Axelrod,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Germs,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.