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 Luxembourg and from Bologna.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 arpeggiator 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 Oblivians to the rap 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 Shuggie Otis. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
The Flesh Eaters,
Connie Case,
Todd Terry,
Cymande,
Lebanon Hanover,
Saccharine Trust,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sarah Menescal,
Reuben Wilson,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Gories,
The Electric Prunes,
Crispian St. Peters,
Sonic Youth,
Wire,
Average White Band,
Dave Gahan,
Robert Hood,
the Normal,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sparks,
The Residents,
Cecil Taylor,
Flash Fearless,
Colin Newman,
The Gladiators,
Bobby Byrd,
Donny Hathaway,
Deakin,
Vladislav Delay,
Frankie Knuckles,
Delta 5,
Public Image Ltd.,
Half Japanese,
Scientists,
Public Enemy,
the Sonics,
Rufus Thomas,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Pagans,
Tommy Roe,
Maleditus Sound,
The Grass Roots,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Motorama,
Dead Boys,
Flipper,
Eddi Front,
Bob Dylan,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Nils Olav,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Minutemen,
Idris Muhammad,
the Soft Cell,
Blancmange,
T.S.O.L.,
Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound.
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.