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 Denmark 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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Beijing.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Lyres to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Gang Gang Dance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kas Product,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Sherman,
Adolescents,
Sun Ra,
Slick Rick,
The Beau Brummels,
Sonny Sharrock,
Eve St. Jones,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Marine Girls,
the Soft Cell,
Lower 48,
The Cure,
Rosa Yemen,
Gong,
Whodini,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Erasure,
Japan,
Scan 7,
A Certain Ratio,
Agent Orange,
Theoretical Girls,
Chris & Cosey,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Sugar Minott,
Soul Sonic Force,
Underground Resistance,
X-Ray Spex,
Quadrant,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Piero Umiliani,
The Detroit Cobras,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Shadows of Knight,
Grauzone,
Traffic Nightmare,
DJ Style,
Subhumans,
Joe Smooth,
Stereo Dub,
Bizarre Inc.,
Angry Samoans,
Bobby Womack,
Judy Mowatt,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gang Starr,
The Fall,
Half Japanese,
Vainqueur,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Stooges,
The Doors,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Doobie Brothers,
Guru Guru,
The Raincoats,
Absolute Body Control,
Barbara Tucker,
The Searchers,
Zapp,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.