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 Comoros and from Mexico City.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Holger Czukay 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 Soft Machine to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Godley & Creme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yellowson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dennis Brown,
The Durutti Column,
Grandmaster Flash,
Amazonics,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The United States of America,
Arcadia,
Bang On A Can,
Soul II Soul,
Warsaw,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sugar Minott,
Marvin Gaye,
Desert Stars,
Absolute Body Control,
Yusef Lateef,
Sound Behaviour,
Ken Boothe,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sonic Youth,
Buzzcocks,
Depeche Mode,
Ludus,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Toasters,
Bob Dylan,
Infiniti,
Bill Near,
Black Sheep,
Scan 7,
Smog,
Tres Demented,
Yellowson,
John Cale,
The Pretty Things,
Tears for Fears,
DJ Style,
The Raincoats,
Tim Buckley,
Byron Stingily,
Panda Bear,
Nation of Ulysses,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Sex Pistols,
X-101,
Thee Headcoats,
Iggy Pop,
Theoretical Girls,
Y Pants,
Simply Red,
Make Up,
EPMD,
Drive Like Jehu,
Joyce Sims,
Groovy Waters,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Loose Ends,
Jandek,
Lou Reed,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.