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 Guinea and from Jakarta.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 theremin 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers to the jazz 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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dave Gahan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ituana,
The Cure,
Howard Jones,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Anakelly,
Todd Terry,
Rufus Thomas,
Hasil Adkins,
Rod Modell,
Glenn Branca,
Lower 48,
The Beau Brummels,
Panda Bear,
Saccharine Trust,
Byron Stingily,
Black Sheep,
Nick Fraelich,
Zapp,
Bootsy Collins,
Eddi Front,
the Normal,
Main Source,
Harry Pussy,
June of 44,
This Heat,
The Walker Brothers,
Zero Boys,
Whodini,
Crooked Eye,
The Gap Band,
Bill Near,
Minor Threat,
Ken Boothe,
The Busters,
Rosa Yemen,
The Dead C,
Mandrill,
David Bowie,
Matthew Bourne,
The Fire Engines,
The Young Rascals,
8 Eyed Spy,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lightning Bolt,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Human League,
Gong,
Grauzone,
Pet Shop Boys,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
David McCallum,
La Düsseldorf,
The Gladiators,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Barrington Levy,
Minnie Riperton,
Thompson Twins,
Soft Machine,
These Immortal Souls,
Rekid, Rekid, Rekid, Rekid.
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.