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 Ethiopia 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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Dave Clark Five to the dance 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 The Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Move record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a T.S.O.L. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Black Sheep,
Pagans,
Q65,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kevin Saunderson,
Suicide,
Gang of Four,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
June of 44,
Royal Trux,
Whodini,
Colin Newman,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Dirtbombs,
Peter and Kerry,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Youth Brigade,
Lou Christie,
Soul Sonic Force,
Barbara Tucker,
Unrelated Segments,
The J.B.'s,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Groovy Waters,
The Barracudas,
Reuben Wilson,
Max Romeo,
Crooked Eye,
Bad Manners,
The Moleskins,
Flipper,
Archie Shepp,
Gastr Del Sol,
Maleditus Sound,
Derrick May,
Sight & Sound,
Pet Shop Boys,
Heaven 17,
Matthew Halsall,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Traffic Nightmare,
F. McDonald,
Idris Muhammad,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Rotary Connection,
Model 500,
Kerri Chandler,
Sexual Harrassment,
Zero Boys,
The Martian,
The Tremeloes,
Joe Finger,
The Alarm Clocks,
ABBA,
Joyce Sims,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Grass Roots,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Red Krayola,
Hasil Adkins,
Girls At Our Best!, Girls At Our Best!, Girls At Our Best!, Girls At Our Best!.
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.