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 Lebanon and from Cairo.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the güiro 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 Flash Fearless to the grime 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 Rapeman. All the underground hits.
All Michelle Simonal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Desert Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe 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 Blackbyrds,
Marcia Griffiths,
Maurizio,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Howard Jones,
Fugazi,
Jeru the Damaja,
Aaron Thompson,
Ronnie Foster,
the Slits,
Lower 48,
Talk Talk,
Oblivians,
The Red Krayola,
The Smiths,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sam Rivers,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Suburban Knight,
Peter and Kerry,
The Residents,
Frankie Knuckles,
Slick Rick,
Mandrill,
Isaac Hayes,
Icehouse,
Sexual Harrassment,
Scott Walker,
Ultimate Spinach,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Dual Sessions,
Terrestrial Tones,
Nirvana,
Pierre Henry,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Wasted Youth,
Country Teasers,
The Seeds,
The Saints,
The Dirtbombs,
Joensuu 1685,
Wolf Eyes,
Ponytail,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Blues Magoos,
Sound Behaviour,
Cheater Slicks,
Pantytec,
Tommy Roe,
The Kinks,
Brass Construction,
Brand Nubian,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Zeros,
Ultravox,
Funky Four + One,
The Fuzztones,
Magma,
The Victims,
Fad Gadget,
The Evens, The Evens, The Evens, The Evens.
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.