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 Micronesia and from Spokane.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Babytalk to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Faraquet,
Terry Callier,
the Slits,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Howard Jones,
the Bar-Kays,
Kayak,
FM Einheit,
Average White Band,
Robert Wyatt,
Outsiders,
Schoolly D,
PIL,
Make Up,
Funky Four + One,
The Beau Brummels,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Skatalites,
Patti Smith,
The Remains,
H. Thieme,
Intrusion,
Suburban Knight,
Jesper Dahlback,
Jacob Miller,
Goldenarms,
Gang of Four,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Searchers,
Bob Dylan,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Derrick Morgan,
Model 500,
Country Teasers,
the Soft Cell,
The Mummies,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Don Cherry,
Depeche Mode,
Monks,
Joy Division,
Flipper,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Fall,
Ponytail,
B.T. Express,
Brass Construction,
The Fuzztones,
Crispian St. Peters,
Spoonie Gee,
Fat Boys,
Eve St. Jones,
the Normal,
Throbbing Gristle,
Talk Talk,
Thee Headcoats,
Pharoah Sanders,
Deepchord,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol.
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.