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 the UAE and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 organ 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Tears for Fears. All the underground hits.
All Glenn Branca tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen 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 '80s 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 John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Depeche Mode,
The Birthday Party,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Television,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gong,
Bauhaus,
Inner City,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Hot Snakes,
Intrusion,
Nils Olav,
Eric Copeland,
Hardrive,
Barrington Levy,
The Slackers,
Talk Talk,
Slick Rick,
Josef K,
Lou Christie,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Young Rascals,
Fatback Band,
Magma,
Bootsy Collins,
Quadrant,
Joy Division,
Robert Hood,
David Axelrod,
Lightning Bolt,
Motorama,
the Fania All-Stars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Walker Brothers,
Jacques Brel,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Neu!,
Tropical Tobacco,
Adolescents,
Clear Light,
Unrelated Segments,
Jimmy McGriff,
Suburban Knight,
Yusef Lateef,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ossler,
8 Eyed Spy,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Wire,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Kevin Saunderson,
Con Funk Shun,
Chris Corsano,
Todd Terry,
Porter Ricks,
Audionom,
Sister Nancy,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
X-Ray Spex,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.