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 Malaysia and from Lagos.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 808 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 Ice-T to the funk 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 Wings. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faust 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Curtis Mayfield record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sonic Youth,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Blues Magoos,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Litter,
Roger Hodgson,
Rotary Connection,
Das Ding,
Unwound,
Flipper,
Barclay James Harvest,
Mad Mike,
Skarface,
New York Dolls,
Tom Boy,
Tubeway Army,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Underground Resistance,
Derrick Morgan,
Banda Bassotti,
Depeche Mode,
Bobby Womack,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Searchers,
Talk Talk,
Subhumans,
Q65,
Agitation Free,
Lindisfarne,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ultra Naté,
The Star Department,
The Sound,
Fort Wilson Riot,
James White and The Blacks,
La Düsseldorf,
Todd Terry,
Lyres,
Crash Course in Science,
Rosa Yemen,
Dark Day,
Kerri Chandler,
Kaleidoscope,
Grauzone,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kenny Larkin,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Aswad,
Robert Wyatt,
Intrusion,
Radio Birdman,
Ituana,
Babytalk,
Reagan Youth,
Max Romeo,
Sparks, Sparks, Sparks, Sparks.
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.