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 Colombia and from Hong Kong.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Traffic Nightmare to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All Smog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
The Mojo Men,
The Trojans,
Ten City,
Joy Division,
Pussy Galore,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Barracudas,
Television,
Average White Band,
Radiopuhelimet,
ABBA,
Silicon Teens,
Robert Görl,
The Searchers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Peter & Gordon,
Pylon,
Glambeats Corp.,
Lakeside,
The Red Krayola,
Pharoah Sanders,
Circle Jerks,
Sugar Minott,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Fire Engines,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Residents,
The Fugs,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
One Last Wish,
The Vogues,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Intrusion,
Delon & Dalcan,
the Fania All-Stars,
AZ,
The Grass Roots,
Fear,
The Zeros,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Infiniti,
The Dave Clark Five,
Minutemen,
Tom Boy,
10cc,
Aloha Tigers,
the Germs,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sam Rivers,
Organ,
Davy DMX,
The Mighty Diamonds,
K-Klass,
The Real Kids,
Scrapy,
Shoche,
Thee Headcoats,
The American Breed,
Young Marble Giants,
Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre.
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.