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 Chad and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Houston.
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 güiro 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 Piero Umiliani to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Nik Kershaw. All the underground hits.
All Suburban Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tears for Fears record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marmalade,
Neu!,
Bluetip,
Eli Mardock,
Eddi Front,
the Bar-Kays,
Bobby Byrd,
Letta Mbulu,
Patti Smith,
Leonard Cohen,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lungfish,
Barclay James Harvest,
Little Man,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Smog,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lower 48,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Gladiators,
Andrew Hill,
Lyres,
8 Eyed Spy,
Ohio Players,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Infiniti,
Black Flag,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Yellowson,
Black Sheep,
Fear,
Ice-T,
The Velvet Underground,
The Pretty Things,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ralphi Rosario,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Happenings,
Eyeless In Gaza,
ABBA,
Cal Tjader,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Scientists,
MDC,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Associates,
Chris Corsano,
Delta 5,
The Offenders,
Oneida,
Harpers Bizarre,
Moss Icon,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Grandmaster Flash,
Public Enemy,
Nick Fraelich,
The Monks,
Heaven 17,
Terrestrial Tones,
Angry Samoans,
Porter Ricks,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.