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 Uruguay and from Accra.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Calgary.
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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Letta Mbulu to the techno 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 The Monochrome Set. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every L. Decosne 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 chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
The Moody Blues,
The Barracudas,
Bush Tetras,
Stereo Dub,
Roy Ayers,
Piero Umiliani,
Cybotron,
Ken Boothe,
Barrington Levy,
Sonic Youth,
U.S. Maple,
Jeff Lynne,
Pet Shop Boys,
Goldenarms,
Liliput,
Section 25,
John Coltrane,
Amon Düül,
Schoolly D,
Black Sheep,
Faust,
Lou Reed,
Dawn Penn,
Black Moon,
The Dead C,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rites of Spring,
Yaz,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Young Rascals,
Depeche Mode,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Evens,
Albert Ayler,
Cecil Taylor,
Reuben Wilson,
Outsiders,
Yazoo,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
James White and The Blacks,
Darondo,
Qualms,
Mad Mike,
Black Bananas,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
H. Thieme,
Howard Jones,
Patti Smith,
Boredoms,
The Detroit Cobras,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Barclay James Harvest,
Lyres,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Smiths,
Steve Hackett,
Joey Negro,
Das Ding,
Hardrive,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.