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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 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 Eve St. Jones to the rap 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 Lower 48. All the underground hits.
All N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every CMW 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nico record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Nas,
Sonny Sharrock,
Moebius,
Black Bananas,
Davy DMX,
The Slackers,
Scan 7,
Frankie Knuckles,
Cluster,
Sex Pistols,
Nick Fraelich,
Robert Wyatt,
Junior Murvin,
Rosa Yemen,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Human League,
Wings,
Los Fastidios,
The Selecter,
The Human League,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Fall,
a-ha,
Sarah Menescal,
John Coltrane,
Skaos,
Graham Central Station,
Byron Stingily,
Outsiders,
Accadde A,
Carl Craig,
The Stooges,
Black Sheep,
Nils Olav,
Warsaw,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lalann,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ronan,
Roxy Music,
Arab on Radar,
Gang of Four,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Schoolly D,
World's Most,
Swell Maps,
Au Pairs,
Panda Bear,
The Sound,
The Litter,
The Grass Roots,
Popol Vuh,
Neu!,
Pere Ubu,
Jerry Gold Smith,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Heaven 17,
Aural Exciters,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.