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 Slovakia 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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Flamin' Groovies to the rap 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 Slick Rick. All the underground hits.
All Negative Approach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The American Breed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Section 25,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Sexual Harrassment,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Symarip,
Dawn Penn,
Janne Schatter,
The Barracudas,
Wire,
Monolake,
Soft Machine,
Flipper,
The Raincoats,
Lindisfarne,
The Vogues,
Alice Coltrane,
Albert Ayler,
Shuggie Otis,
Bill Near,
Icehouse,
Ronan,
Underground Resistance,
CMW,
The Skatalites,
Electric Prunes,
Harmonia,
Tomorrow,
Brand Nubian,
Danielle Patucci,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Dual Sessions,
48th St. Collective,
MDC,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Deakin,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Connie Case,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Godley & Creme,
Bad Manners,
The Fortunes,
Iggy Pop,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Slits,
Index,
The Tremeloes,
Faraquet,
Deadbeat,
Nick Fraelich,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Yazoo,
Lebanon Hanover,
Schoolly D,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Real Kids,
Jerry's Kids,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Fela Kuti,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.