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 Nigeria and from Winnipeg.
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 Johannesburg and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Frankie Knuckles to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Duran Duran. All the underground hits.
All Brand Nubian tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Normal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
48th St. Collective,
Groovy Waters,
Gastr Del Sol,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Pharoah Sanders,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Excepter,
The Golliwogs,
The Cure,
Robert Wyatt,
Sight & Sound,
The American Breed,
Scott Walker,
Radiopuhelimet,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Walker Brothers,
Minutemen,
Henry Cow,
Deakin,
Rhythm & Sound,
Vainqueur,
Symarip,
Sound Behaviour,
Loose Ends,
China Crisis,
Kenny Larkin,
OOIOO,
Ronan,
Dead Boys,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Neon Judgement,
The Offenders,
Donald Byrd,
Lalann,
Gong,
Camberwell Now,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Derrick May,
Peter and Kerry,
Zapp,
The Seeds,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Letta Mbulu,
Panda Bear,
Qualms,
Graham Central Station,
Sarah Menescal,
Mo-Dettes,
Make Up,
Anthony Braxton,
Jeff Lynne,
Scion,
Accadde A,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pierre Henry,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sam Rivers,
Gang of Four,
Girls At Our Best!,
Basic Channel,
Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon.
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.