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 Fiji 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Blackbyrds to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Adolescents tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra Arkestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultra Naté,
Procol Harum,
Unwound,
Avey Tare,
Grauzone,
Flash Fearless,
The Gap Band,
Isaac Hayes,
Hoover,
The Cowsills,
Visage,
kango's stein massive,
Amon Düül II,
Ludus,
Arthur Verocai,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Blackbyrds,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Toasters,
Liliput,
Ralphi Rosario,
Mo-Dettes,
Junior Murvin,
X-102,
The Fortunes,
Colin Newman,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Stockholm Monsters,
Silicon Teens,
Boredoms,
Bill Near,
Kaleidoscope,
The Cramps,
Roxy Music,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Vogues,
Desert Stars,
Rosa Yemen,
Youth Brigade,
Wire,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
PIL,
Mad Mike,
Sight & Sound,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Beau Brummels,
Janne Schatter,
The Motions,
Dave Gahan,
Newcleus,
Faust,
John Cale,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
the Soft Cell,
Black Sheep,
Al Stewart,
AZ,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.