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 Micronesia 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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Lou Reed 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 Ultravox to the punk 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 Little Man. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thee Headcoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin 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?
Altered Images,
Saccharine Trust,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gang Starr,
Soul Sonic Force,
Aural Exciters,
Andrew Hill,
Susan Cadogan,
Ultravox,
Robert Görl,
Babytalk,
The Skatalites,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Wings,
The Blues Magoos,
Boogie Down Productions,
a-ha,
Donny Hathaway,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lower 48,
John Lydon,
Skriet,
The Fall,
Grey Daturas,
The Five Americans,
Masters at Work,
The New Christs,
The Slits,
Yellowson,
Lindisfarne,
Index,
Alphaville,
The Mummies,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Offenders,
Crispian St. Peters,
Colin Newman,
Ultra Naté,
Bill Wells,
Black Bananas,
Country Joe & The Fish,
New Order,
Television,
Crooked Eye,
Deadbeat,
Erasure,
Joyce Sims,
Little Man,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bronski Beat,
The Doors,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soft Cell,
Roy Ayers,
Pierre Henry,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer.
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.