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 Paraguay and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Johnny Clarke to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All Shuggie Otis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang of Four 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ornette Coleman,
Hasil Adkins,
Deakin,
Boz Scaggs,
Von Mondo,
Lalann,
Reagan Youth,
Surgeon,
Warren Ellis,
Scratch Acid,
Alton Ellis,
The Motions,
Shoche,
Pylon,
Hardrive,
Alphaville,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Moss Icon,
Outsiders,
The Gap Band,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Neon Judgement,
Wings,
Faust,
Echospace,
The Cramps,
Roxy Music,
Pagans,
The Standells,
The Last Poets,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Techniques,
UT,
Tommy Roe,
Harpers Bizarre,
Maleditus Sound,
Funky Four + One,
The Moody Blues,
Fad Gadget,
The Monks,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Audionom,
The Residents,
This Heat,
Cecil Taylor,
Glenn Branca,
Carl Craig,
The New Christs,
Barbara Tucker,
Franke,
Scrapy,
Jerry's Kids,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Laurel Aitken,
The Gories,
Bob Dylan,
E-Dancer,
Piero Umiliani,
The Martian,
Panda Bear,
Wasted Youth,
Gang Gang Dance,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.